Surviving the Weasley Twins
by phantomduck
Summary: Hogwarts has seen many things over the years, but it is about to face the biggest test in its history, Fred and George have just enrolled as first years.
1. Heading for new Horizons

"Make sure you write as soon as you get there so I know you made it ok," huffed Mrs Weasley as she jogged alongside the Hogwarts Express, "if you need anything sent to you just send an owl and I'll make sure you get it," the train had started to gather pace as she broke into a run, "don't forget to wrap up warm when you go outside," she stopped at the end of the platform watching the train pulling away before shouting, "and for God sake, you two, behave yourselves!"

She watched as the Hogwarts Express disappeared around the corner.

"Molly," Mr Weasley said smoothly, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder and giving it a squeeze, "don't worry about them, I know it's their first year but Fred and George will be fine."

"It's not them I'm really worried about, it's the school" confided Mrs Weasley.

Standing alongside their parents stood two young children, both with flaming red hair, the girl was grinning wildly as she continued waving at the now gone train. The boy however looked in a state of discomfort.

"What's wrong Ron? Missing your brothers already?" asked Mr Weasley kneeling down.

Ron shook his head and stuck out his tongue to show his father; right in the centre ofwhich was a large hole. As a way of explanation to Mr Weasley's confused look, Ron held up his hand, which had a bright red lollipop sticking out of the top.

"RON!" screamed Mrs Weasley as she saw the gapping hole in her son's tongue, "What's happened Arthur?" she asked worryingly.

"It's an acid pop," sighed Mr Weasley, "Fred and George must have given it to him."

"Those little…" Mrs Weasley started angrily as the young redheaded girl broke into laughter while her brother tried sticking his tongue out further trying to see the hole himself.

"You know I think you're right," nodded Mr Weasley, "I'm not sure Hogwarts is ready for Fred and George."

"Brilliant," said Fred as he pulled his head back through the window, attempting to smooth down his wind swept hair, "so what do we do now?"

"Well, you three can do what you like," said the twin's older brother Charlie, before jerking a thumb over his shoulder, "I've got to get down to the prefects carriage, see you later."

"See ya Charlie," called George to the retreating figure, before turning to the other two, "so what about it Percy, you want to go find a carriage with us?"

Before he could answer a pretty, young third year girl passed them in the corridor and said hello to Percy as she went by.

"Oh hello Penelope," replied Percy in a slightly higher voice then normal, causing both Fred and George to break out into huge grins.

"Hi Penelope," cried Fred while George waved ecstatically, she looked back and smiled.

"Why you…" blustered an irritated Percy, whose face had turned red partly from embarrassment and partly through anger, "don't annoy my friends, yes she is just a friend. Honestly it's high time you two grew up, you're Hogwarts Students now, although you'll probably end up in Hufflepuff. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to meet some people whose company I actually enjoy," he added before storming off down the carriages. His exit would probably have been more impressive if George hadn't had shouted "What? You mean there are gnomes on the train?"

Fred and George trudged along the corridors dragging their cases, glancing into each carriage as they passed. Eventually they found one that wasn't already full of students. They looked in to see a young black boy staring out of the window.

"What do you think?" asked George nudging his twin.

"I think it's rude to stare," said Fred pulling open the door and stepping in, "alright mate, I'm Fred Weasley and this is my less attractive brother George."

"Hiya," George said hefting his bag onto one of the overhead racks before plonking himself down onto the seat.

"Hi there," replied the boy breaking into a friendly smile, "I'm Lee, Lee Jordan."

"Well Lee Lee Jordan it's nice to meet you," Fred said resting his feet on the chair opposite, "I'm guessing you're a first year too?"

"Yep," nodded Lee enthusiastically, "I can't wait either, from what my parents told me about it, it sounds amazing."

"Yeah it should be great," George reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cards, "want to play a few hands of Exploding Snap?"

The hours on the train slowly trickled by. The three of them played many games of cards, exchanged stories, discussed Quiditch, and were visited by Charlie twice; the first time to say hi as he was passing on his prefect patrolling duties, the second time to tell them to behave and keep the noise down.

"I swear to God his head ended up the size of a cow before my parents realised what was happening," laughed Fred as he told another story.

"Yep, and for some reason after that dad never left his wand around where I could find it," George nodded, "still, I didn't know any better I was only five, and it was my own head after all."

"I bet your parents will be wondering what to do will all their free time now they don't have to keep an eye on you two," concluded Lee.

"Ah... well not if they go in our room they won't," said George.

"Oh yeah, what was it mum said again?" asked Fred.

"She was going to give our room a complete clean after we left," George reminded him.

"That's right, I just hope she doesn't look in my bed side cabinet without taking precautions," Fred grinned in spite of himself.

"Or in the wardrobe..." added George.

"...or under the bed," finished Fred.

"You know Fred," George said turning to his twin, "I think we'll be lucky if we're allowed home at Christmas."

"To be honest if she checks under the bed I think we'll be lucky if we are allowed home at all," concluded Fred.

"Here," Lee nodded at some of the other students moving passed their compartment, "looks like people are starting to get changed."

The three of them opened their trunks, pulled out their robes and began to get dressed. When they finished Fred looked down at his trousers which were slightly too long for his legs.

"Damn, Bill was tall when he was our age," he said kicking a foot out and watching the end flap about.

"At least you dont have to worry about Charlie being fat," George was holding his baggy trousers up with one hand while he searched through his clothes for a belt.

"It could be worse," said Lee.

The twins looked over at their new friend. Lee's trousers flopped over the ends completely enveloping his feet while he pulled the waistband out showing about half a foot of gap between his body and the material.

"Mum said I would grow into them," Lee explained shrugging.

"Here," Fred tossed him over a belt, "most of my clothes were Bill's so I doubt I'll be needing this."

It had gotten dark by the time they had pulled into the station. Lee, Fred and George piled out of the train and onto the platform with the rest of the students, leaving their luggage aboard as Charlie had told them to. It was easy to spot the first years amongst the crowd, most were looking around wide eyed in the lamp-light while the older students were walking off towards a collection of black horseless carriages which were waiting for them. Some of the first years went to make for the carriages with the rest of the pupils.

"Fir' years over ere with me!" boomed a loud voice.

"Bloody hell," swore Fred as he saw the source of the voice.

There was a huge man about twice the height of a normal man and easily five times as wide towering above everyone at the far end of the platform. His face was hidden behind a wild bushy beard which stretched up his face and joined his long tangled hair.

"At least we don't have his hand me downs," George whispered awe struck.

"I'm Rubeus Hagrid," said the large man waving at the gathered first years, "Keeper of Keys and Grounds here at Hogwarts, follow me down ter der lake."

The first years duly followed Hagrid towards the water; most were twisting their heads left and right warily as if they expected something to jump out at them, some, like Fred and George, were excitedly looking around trying to see everything at once, every now and then a student would see something new and point it out to his fellow first years, generally while shouting loudly in the case of the Weasley twins. This continued all the way onto the small boats, which they clambered into, talking excitedly between themselves.

Fred and George sat in one of the boats looking around the for the oars, before they could tell Hagrid that they didn't have any, their boat jerked forward on itsown and started to glide out across the lake as the other boats followed suit.

"It's the castle!" came a voice from one of the boats at the front of the group. Everyone craned their necks forward trying to see it as well. A wave of 'ooh's' and 'ahh's' passed through the boats as slowly all of the first years caught their first glimpse of the school, the full moon casting it in an impressive silhouette against the clear night sky.

"You know Fred," George looked over to his twin, just as one of the massive tentacles of the giant squid broke the water and waved at them, "I think I'm gonna like it here"


	2. Ready sorted

The boats gracefully floated into their destinations, and with much wobbling the students climbed onto the safe solid wood of the jetty. Everyone was talking at once; their voices formed a dull murmuring that would have sounded like a swarm of bees to anyone passing at that moment.

Hagrid led the way up some large stone steps, waiting expectantly at the top of the stairs was a tall thin woman, with her hair pulled back into a tight bun on the top of her head.

"Ere's the fir years professor," Hagrid said, indicating to the new students before giving them a cheery wave and heading off.

The stern looking woman surveyed them slowly, the din of their chattering slowly dimming until there only remained two voices. She, along with the quiet students, looked over to where the conversation was emanating from.

"I mean did you see the size of that tentacle?" said George excitedly.

"Yeah I bet it's the size of a dragon, maybe bigger…" Fred suddenly realised that everyone was looking at them, he looked up at the professor whose lips had now formed a very tight line across her mouth, "sorry."

"Now that I have your full attention," she glared at the twins when she said this, "I am Professor McGonagall, I am the deputy headmistress here at Hogwarts, I also teach Transfiguration and for those of you that are sorted into Gryffindor I will be the Head of your House."

"Charlie never mentioned this downside to his House," whispered Fred to his brother, "she looks stricter then mum."

"In a moment we will be going into the Great Hall where the sorting ceremony will begin, each of you will be sorted into one of the four houses, they are; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. For the duration of your time at Hogwarts these Houses will be like your family, good behaviour will result in you earning House Points for them, any rule breaking will result in them being taken away."

A fresh murmur rippled through the crowd as people started worry about what they were going to have to do at this ceremony.

"Relax," said Fred to an obviously anxious Lee, "it's just a hat you have to wear."

"Charlie says they just pop in on your head and it decides where you go," explained George.

"So where we will be placed, where we will sleep, and the people who we'll be friends with probably for most of our lives, are all decided by a hat?" concluded Lee, "is no one else worried by that?"

Before either of the twins could respond, and with the remainder of the students looking at each other with vacant expressions and either shrugging or shaking their heads, Professor McGonagall had opened the door to the Great Hall and the crowd of first years surged forward, pulling the three boys along with them.

"Nice," understated Lee who was looking up at the ceiling where instead of solid stone you could see out into the dark sky.

"Hey Charlie!" cried out George waving to his brother sitting along one of the columns of tables, who returned the wave by grinning broadly back at him.

"Hiya Penelope," Fred gave the pretty girlwhohad passed them on the train, a thumbs up as the procession of first years went by her.

They were led up to the very top of the room; just in front of where all the teachers were seated. Placed on a stool was a rather battered and old looking hat.

"To be honest," whispered Fred to his brother "I'm not that impressed."

There was an expectant silence from the rest of the hall, the first years followed suit, the occasional hushed whisper could be heard here and there, as everyone looked at the Sorting Hat. Suddenly the Hat sprung into life, bring excited gasps from the first years, the rim of it moved creating an opening which looked remarkably like a mouth, and sure enough it didn't just begin to speak; it began to sing.

Welcome old students  
And welcome the new,  
To the worlds most  
Remarkable school.

Here you'll learn  
Your lessons well,  
But not maths or science,  
Or how to spell.

For magic and potions,  
And Transfiguration,  
Are what you'll learn here,  
With much trepidation.

In one of four Houses,  
You'll be a new face,  
As I sit on your head,  
And decided where you're placed.

Will it be Gryffindor,  
Noble and true,  
Or the wise Ravenclaw,  
Where I'll place you.

Or how about Slytherin,  
Where the cunning excel,  
And finally Hufflepuff  
Where the kind do well.

In one of these four,  
You be placed just like that,  
By the magical marvel  
Known as The Sorting Hat.

The room erupted into applause, everyone was clapping loudly and cheering as Professor McGonagall walked up onto the slightly raised stage that the stool was on, unravelled a parchment and waited patiently for the noise to die down.

"Arrow, Sebastian!" she called out loudly reading off what was obviously a list of the first year's names.

A pale boy, who looked positively aghast that he was the first person called up, walked unsteadily up onto the stage and over to McGonagall and the stool with the hat on it. McGonagall lifted the hat up and told him quietly to sit down. He sat down the stool and looked up at the hat with an anxious expression on his face. The remaining first years leaned forward, expectantly holding their collective breath as the hat was slowly lowered onto the young boy's head. After a few seconds the part of the hat that looked like a mouth spoke.

"Hufflepuff!" it shouted loudly, echoing around the hall.

Cheers from one of the columns of tables greeted this announcement, the closeststudents on the column were waving across to the young boy to come and join them at the empty seats that had been left for the new first years.

One by one the first years were sorted into the four houses, each time bringing a chorus of applause from their new friends.

"Gryffindor!" shouted the Sorting Hat.

McGonagall removed the hat from Lee's head, he stepped off of the stage and went to make his way towards the cheering table of other Gryffindors stopping briefly to talk to the Weasley twins.

"Nice one Lee," said George patting him on the shoulder as Professor McGonagall called for 'Mungra, Rachel!'

"Yeah Charlie is in Gryffindor," agreed Fred, "he says it's brilliant, they have the best Quidditch team."

"I hope you guys end up in there as well," Lee said enthusiastically as a cheer went up from the Slytherin table for their newest member.

Soon more or less everyone had been sorted into his or her respective houses; only one other person thanFred and George were now left standing at the front of the stage.

"Weasley, Fred!" called McGonagall as he bounded up onto the stage plonking himself onto the stool.

The Sorting Hat was lowered onto his head, and came to a rather quick decision.

"Gryffindor!"

The table erupted into a noisy applause, Lee was standing up clapping hard as Fred made his way over, while Charlie and Percy were also on there feet cheering loudly.

"Weasley, George!" said McGonagall despite the fact that George had already wandered onto the stage and was sitting waiting for the Sorting Hat.

It was only placed gently onto him for a fraction of a second before it had come to it's decision.

"Gryffindor!"

George bounced over to the Gryffindor table, high fiving all of the other first years before settling down next to his twin, just as the last person 'Elizabeth Xavier' was placed in Ravenclaw.

The cheering and general murmur of excited chatter slowly decreased as the headmaster, Dumbledore, stood and raised his hands for silence.

"To the new students, I say welcome," his gaze moved over the entire spectrum of first years, "to the rest, I say welcome back. There is a time and a place for speeches, and while this is definitely the place it is certainly not the time, as there are more pressing matters to hand."

Dumbledore clapped his hands together and all along the tables food appeared from nowhere, to the delighted gasps of the first years and hungry alike. Digging into the food Fred and George piled their plates high as they started chatting to their fellow Gryffindors.

Fred and Lee were animatedly discussing Quidditch with two first year girls opposite them, while George, much to his displeasure, found himself talking to the girl next to him about exams.

"I can't wait, I've always been good under pressure," explained the girl, Patricia Stimpson, despite

Georges attempt to redirect the conversation, "of course as soon as I found out about wizard's, witches and Hogwarts I've been wondering what they would be like. I got top marks in my last exams at my other school, did I mention that already?" she asked from beneath her large glasses.

"You know you might have brushed on it at some point," George agreed distractedly, listening in to Fred and Lee's conversation with the other two girls that had introduced themselves as Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson earlier.

"I hope they hold Quidditch try-outs soon," said Angelina, "although I don't know what I'll use seeing as they wouldn't let first years bring any brooms."

"Sorry to put a dampener on the situation," Fred cut in, "but I doubt they'll hold any tryouts. Our brother is on the team and he said there weren't any spots free this year."

The conversation flowed freely during the course of the meal, leaning back in his chair after eating a considerable amount of food, George let out a comfortable sigh.

"You know I don't think I'll need a belt to wear Charlie's hand me downs if we eat like that for every meal," he said rubbing his stomach.

Most people had also finished their meals and were pushing their plates away with satisfied looks upon their faces Dumbledore sensing that the meal was nearly over raised himself to his feet and called for everyone's attention.

"Thank you, thank you," his voice echoed loudly around the Great Hall, "firstly I'd like you all to extend a warm Hogwarts' welcome to our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrell."

A young tall pale man dressed very neatly with tidy short hair, rose from his seat and acknowledge the polite applause with a little wave.

"Now there are a few notices that I wish to bring to your attention," he said, once there was quiet in the room, "for the benefits of the new students there is a forest to the east of the school, for your own safety please consider it to be out of bounds as there are many dangerous animals and beasts that reside within it's foliage. Our caretaker Mr Filch," he raised his hand indicated a man standing at the side of the teachers table, who glared at the students as they looked at him, "has asked me to remind all students that there are a number of items that are forbidden in the school and any student found in possession of them will be punished, a full list of the items are posted outside Mr Filch's office. Finally there is an opening for Quidditch commentators this year, for those that are interested please see Professor McGonagall."

"Now I'm sure, like me, you are all looking forward to a new year here at Hogwarts," he smiled kindly as he said this and raised his goblet, "so here is to another outstanding year, catching up with old friends and meeting new ones too. To Hogwarts."

"To Hogwarts," the chorus of voices echoed loudly around the Great Hall, as did the banging of goblets together.

"One final thing before we all head to beds, the school song!" Dumbledore smiled broadly as he flicked his wand, a long ribbon streamed out the end of it and floated in the air, "everyone pick your favourite tune."

The noise was unbelievable, groups of students were choosing different tunes to attempt it, while the first years were trying to keep up as the floating ribbon magically spelt out the words to the song. When everyone was finished the prefects came down to the first years to show them where to go.

"Ok first years," Charlie interrupted the group of new Gryffindors who were currently watching Fred and George take it in turns to try and throw grapes into each others mouths, "er… are you even attempting to get it in his mouth?" he asked Fred as another grape bounced off of George's forehead, "anyway, follow me and I'll take you to the Gryffindor common room."

The excited chatter once again started up as the first years fell into a gaggled group behind Charlie.

"I heard someone say that we are in one of the towers," Alicia whispered.

"Brilliant," responded Angelina, "I bet we'll be able to see the Quidditch pitch from our rooms."

Charlie led the first years up to the seventh floor, up the changing staircases, which seemed to be a particular favourite of the twins, to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Glumbumble," said Charlie when the reached the portrait.

"Bless you," responded Fred.

"It's the password Fred," explained Charlie as the painting swung open revealing a doorway inside, "we change the passwords every now and then, we post them on the notice board so make sure you know it before you leave the common room or you could be stuck out here for a while."

The first years stepped through the opening and into the common room, a large fire was roaring away in the fireplace and the room was filled with a number of tables and big squashy armchairs.

"The staircase to the boy's dormitories are on that side," said Charlie pointing, "and the girls on that side, you'll find your stuff already in your room, now it has been a long day so no doubt you are all very tired so I suggest you get to your rooms and make yourself at home," as the first years slowly filtered towards their respective staircases he stopped his younger brothers as they passed, "Fred, George, please don't go wandering around the school tonight, at least wait until after your first day before you get into trouble."

"What on earth makes you think we'd just go off wandering around?" asked Fred indignantly.

"Well you don't have to be good at Divination to realise that you guys like finding trouble," explained Charlie.

"For your information Charlie," scolded George, "Fred and I were about to go to our rooms and get some extra reading done so we'll be ready for classes tomor…." he started laughing, "you know I almost made it to the end of that sentence. Ok brother, we'll behave, well for tonight at least."

"Promise?" asked Charlie raising an eyebrow sceptically.

"Of course," agreed Fred before walking towards the staircase where Lee had waited for them, "night Charlie."

The twins climbed the stairs to their room and pushed open the door, the other Gryffindor boys were already unpacking their things, Lee, Fred and George found their beds, which were next to each other, and began planning their next move.

"So where first the forest or the dungeons?" asked Fred as Lee came over to join them.

"Er…,"said Lee uncertainly, "didn't you just promise your brother to stay in?"

"Oh only to the untrained," explained Fred, "you see if you knew Charlie better you'd realise that what he meant to say was 'if we do go out then make sure we don't get caught.'"

"Really?" said an unconvinced Lee.

"Well no,but we promised not to get into trouble on our first day," smiled George nodding to the clock on the wall.

"And it's just gone midnight," pointed out Fred, "so technically it is our second day so we won't be breaking our promise."

"Plus we also really want to," George said finally.

"Well as much fun as it sounds," Lee stifled a huge yawn, "I'm going to hit the hay, I was up about six o'clock this morning so I'm completely knackered. Sorry"

"No problem," said George solemnly patting Lee on the shoulder, "no mere mortal could ever be expected to keep up with us."

"We're just going to hang out downstairs in the common room for a bit," announced Fred to the rest of the room, winking to Lee.

"Yeah," agreed George, "don't want to keep any of you guys awake with our chatter."

Bouncing down the stairs the twins entered the common room, there were a few people still sitting around talking but after a while they said their goodnights and wend to bed. When they were finally by themselves the twins swiftly made their way over to the exit. The portrait swung open and the two of them stepped out, George shooed away a rather dusty looking cat.

"Any ideas what we should do first?" asked Fred rubbing his hands together.

"I have one," said a grating voice.

The two brothers spun around and looked in the direction of where the voice came from. Stepping out of the dark, with a triumphant look upon his face, was Filch.


	3. Starting off on the right foot

"Oh hello Mr Filch," started Fred in a friendly voice that faltered once he saw the malevolent look in the caretaker's eyes.

Filch took out a pen and scrap of paper and wrote something swiftly down on it before folding it up and attaching it to the cat's collar. Once this had been done the cat sprang away down the corridor, while and Filch stood up and looked at the two twins.

"Every year without fail," he said revealing stained and dirty teeth as he spoke, "there is at least one new student who thinks it's clever to go wandering around the school on their first night, and every year I catch them. Follow me."

Fred looked across at his brother and gave a brief shrugged before plodding into line behind the dishevelled figure of the caretaker, as George followed he glanced back at the portrait of the Fat Lady who gave him a look that basically said "it's your own fault."

Walking through the school at night seemed very eerie, granted they had only been there for a day but it seemed natural to the twins that the school should be filled with the noise of students. The school seemed to have transformed at night into an ominous series of dark nooks and crannies. All the while they were following Filch he was muttering gleefully under his breath.

"Every year I get them," he mumbled, "spot the trouble makers a mile off I can. Thought you could just go wandering the halls whenever you felt like it eh?" he glared back at the twins, Fred went to answer him but George elbowed him in the ribs and shook his head.

Eventually Filch led them into a small room, which they assumed correctly was his office; he opened on of the large cabinets and pulled out two fresh files.

"Name?" he asked pointing at Fred.

"George Weasley," Fred responded smirking a little.

"Oh think this is all a game eh?" asked Filch as he wrote on the file before turning to George, "and you?"

"It's Fred," George managed to control his smile much better then Fred did, as Filch scribbled this onto the top of the file.

"Every time you do something wrong," Filched lifted up the files and waved them, "it goes in here. Every punishment you receive, every detention you do, it all goes in here."

"So it's a bit like a diary?" asked Fred innocently.

"What…no, it's nothing like a diary," Filch stammered, he wasn't use to first years asking questions, usually the students were too busy being afraid of him to even speak, "it is a record of your misbehaviour for the duration of your time here at Hogwarts."

"Ahh…" said George sagely, "you mean it's more like a journal."

"What's the difference?" asked Fred turning to his brother.

"Oh well a diary would be more of a fact based log," explained George, "you know, what you did and where you went on each day. Where as a journal is more a collection of your thoughts that you write down."

"So I was right?" pointed out Fred, "this is much more like a diary then a journal."

Filch stood, mouth open, looking back and forth between the two twins, "No! It isn't a diary and it isn't a journal," he shouted his face turning red with annoyance, "it's a record, a file, a way of keeping track of your crimes."

"Oh, that's a good idea," admitted George.

"It is?" said Fred frowning as Filch's face contorted into a look of complete confusion.

"Well we wouldn't want to do the same thing twice would we?" concluded George.

"True, very true," mused Fred scratching his chin, "we have to keep our idea's fresh."

"…original," added George.

"… and groundbreaking," concluded Fred, "it's very kind of you to help us out like this Mr Filch."

"What…" Filch blustered pointing his finger at the twins who were both standing there with looks of complete innocence plastered across their faces, luckily before he could manage to get out his words Professor McGonagallstepped into the doorway with a tartan dressing gown wrapped tightly around her, Filch's old looking cat slinked into the room slipping past her legs.

"Mrs Norris delivered your note Mr Filch," McGonagall held up the piece of paper in question.

"I was just about to punish them Professor," Filch said, looking hopefully over at some manacles chained to the wall

"I believe that as Head of Gryffindor it is ultimately up to me what their punishment is," she reminded Filch before looking down at the twins, "you two, follow me," she stepped briskly out of the doorway and down the hall with the twins walking fast in her wake.

Finally they stopped outside the Fat Lady and McGonagall turned to them.

"Now I understand that you are excited to be here," she said sternly, "and since it is your first night here you might not be aware of all the rules. However I must draw your attention to the fact that no student is allowed to wander around the school late at night."

"Yes Professor," both twins mumbled guiltily staring down at the floor whilst at the same time grinning internally as they both knew that they had gotten out of trouble.

"Very well, now both of you should get to bed," she concluded, "oh and I'll be deducting a Housepoint each for tonight's escapades."

"But I thought you said we weren't aware of the rules," argued Fred.

"Yes but it is your responsibility to learn the rules Mr Weasley," she responded sharply, "ignorance is no excuse."

Fred gave the password to the Fat Lady and the two brothers slumped through the opening and up to bed.

"How did it go last night?" asked Lee at breakfast.

"Badly," said George stabbing a fork into another sausage.

"We got caught by Filch when we left the common room," explained Fred spraying the table with bread, since he was finishing off his toast at the time.

"But on the plus side he did start a diary for Fred and I, so it wasn't all bad," concluded George before having to explain about the report files that Filch kept.

"Damn," swore Lee looking at his watch, "better get going or we'll be late for Transfiguration."

Lee stood up, reached under the table, pulled out his school bag and threw it over his shoulder; he glanced down at the twins who had a slightly worried look on their faces.

"What?" he said.

"You brought your bag down," pointed out Fred.

"Well yeah, I thought it would be easier then having to go all the way back up to the seventh floor, plus I didn't think I'd have time," admitted Lee, "why, where are your bags?"

"Er…excuse me," George wolfed down his mouthful of food and pelted off in the direction of the stairs.

"McGonagall's going to kill us," Fred pushed his plate away and followed the streak of flaming red hair that was his brother.

"Come on!" Fred was impatiently jumping from one foot to the other breathing hard from having to run up all the stairs.

"I'm opening as fast as I can," the Fat Lady replied indignantly.

The twins barged through the gap, apologising to Percy as they knocked him sideways, and up to their rooms. Frantically they grabbed their school bags and bungled a selection of their school books inside before setting off once again.

BANG!

The door to the Transfiguration class slammed heavily into the wall, echoing around the room, as Fred and George finally made it to the lesson, causing the stunned students within to whip their heads around quickly at the noise.

"We're… really…sorry… Professor," gasped Fred between haggard breaths.

"We…got …lost," an equally out of breath George wheezed.

When no barrage of reprimands came their way from the head of the class, a confused Fred looked up while George remained doubled over in agony.

"I don't…believe it," he panted, glancing over at his brother he explained, "she isn't here."

"So we ran all that way for nothing," said George painfully clutching his side as he took in great gulps of air, "God, even my teeth hurt."

"Man, my legs are like jelly," concluded Fred as he wobbled uncertainly to the front of the class making his way towards the only two remaining seats with George being up the rear.

"Hello there, aren't you a pretty kitty?" said George as he went passed the teachers desk ruffling the head of a tabby coloured cat that was sitting on it, "much nicer then that smelly old thing of Filch's…what's up with you lot?"

The class had giving a very audible gasp, Angelina was sitting with her mouth wide open, while Alicia was trying to stifle a giggle and Lee just slapped his hand to his forehead and shook it.

In answer to his question the cat leaped up from the desk, but rather then landing on its paw's it started to stretch in midair, causing George to leap back. It kept stretching; its back paws became feet, its front paws became hands, it's fur became a black gown and its head became that of Professor McGonagall except rather then the very neat tight bun she had on her head the previous night, her hair was loosely held together with messy strands sticking out left and right, giving her the look of someone that had been pushed backwards through a hedge by a tornado.

Partly due to being still out of breath and partly due to the fact that he had never once unwittingly ruffled the head of a teacher that had taken the form of an animal, George was understandably lost for words under the glare of McGonagall. Luckily for him his brother was always ready to wade in with the right thing to say in any situation.

"You're an Animagus!" Fred shouted excitedly, "Is it just a cat you can turn into? Can you do any other animals or is it just cats? Can you turn into a lion?" He said all this very quickly in one breath and looked at McGonagall with an expectant grin on his face, unfortunately she didn't share his enthusiasm and just glared at him with her mouth practically disappearing it had gotten that tightly pressed together.

"Obviously now isn't the time to answer such questions," Fred recovered quickly before pointing at his brother, "you'll be wanting to tell my brother off for messing up your hair."

George stared at his brother with his eyes wide open.

"Well it's only your second day here and you two are certainly making an impression," Professor McGonagall said coolly, "although sadly it isn't the most desirable of impressions. A point will be deducted each from Gryffindor for your tardiness, and a further point from you," she looked down at George as she said this, "if for no other reason then for you to learn to keep your hands to yourself. Now that we are finally all here we can start the lesson."

"Sorry George," whispered Fred as his brother sat down next to him, "I could only save one of us."

The Transfiguration lesson was long and difficult, for the majority of it they had to copy out extensive and boring passages of text; the last half an hour of the class was spent trying to turn a match into a needle. This feat was much harder to achieve then any of the students thought and by the end of the lesson only two of them managed to make their match change in any way; Lee and George. Lee's match had somehow be set on fire and was now lying on his desk, a blackened burnt shell of it's former self. George, however, was leaning back on his chair with a wide smug grin on his face as McGonagall held up his shiny metal needle to show the rest of the class.

"Most impressive Mr Weasley," she congratulated him, "clearly you have a certain amount of potential. Five points to Gryffindor."

The class filtered out slowly at the end the students chatting away about the lesson as well as complaining about getting homework on their first full day.

"Its not that bad," said George, as they twins and Lee headed out into the open air for their break.

"Not for you it isn't, you weren't set any homework," pointed out Lee.

"Yeah, about that," said Fred accusingly, "how did you manage to change that match? I was waving my wand around like a mad man and mine didn't even get any pointier."

"At least yours didn't catch on fire," said Lee glumly.

"Well Fred," George puffed out his chest when he said this, "you see its like this, I concentrated, focussed at the task in hand, and let my natural talent and intellect do the rest."

"And that's how you did it is it?" asked Fred suspiciously.

"Yes my dear brother," smiled George before pulling a clenched fist from his pocket and opening his palm flat to reveal a match, "that and I switched this for a needle when McGonagallwasn't looking."


	4. Hubble Bubble

The next few days flew by as the Weasley twins and the rest of their year had their first taste of each different lesson. They experienced: Charms where Fred managed to float a tomato but lost control and ended up shooting it across the room so that it hit Professor Flitwick slap bang in the middle of his forehead; Astronomy, where they studied the sky using telescopes at midnight or at least they would have done if George hadn't fallen asleep half way through the lesson, woken with a jolt, kicked out his leg, which resulted in him launching the telescope across the room where it hit Fred slap bang in the middle of his head; Herbology; where the twins combined their efforts and somehow managed to kill most of the plants in Greenhouse One within half an hour and Care of Magical Creatures, where they completely failed to show any of the natural talent for the subject that their brother Charlie had, although they did manage to help Hagrid's poorly dog, Fang, back onto its feet, unfortunately this was due to the fact that Fred had accidentally trod on its tail causing it to bolt away in pain, knocking George over as it headed towards the forest.

The lessons they had been looking forward to most both fell on the Thursday: Defence Against The Dark Arts and Potions.

"Brilliant," said Fred as they trundled into the room, which had many portraits of vampires, werewolves, banshees and other dangerous creatures hung on the walls.

"I can't wait," admitted George as he sat down between Lee and Fred, all three were sitting eagerly at the front of the class with their wands ready. Looking around they saw that they weren't the only ones, everyone was sitting forward on the edge of their seats, either staring at all the portraits or flicking through the first few pages of their books.

"Welcome students welcome," said a friendly voice, the students looked to the back of the room to see their new teacher step boldly into the room, "I'm Professor Quirrell, and it's my duty to start you off down the path of Defence Against the Dark Arts."

He covered the distance to the front of the room is a few easy strides, then turned to face the class of Gryffindors with a wide smile on his face.

"By the time you leave these hallowed halls you will have learnt how to deal with Vampires, Zombies, Trolls and Giants," he pointed to each of the creatures represented by the portraits, "as well as a curses, counter-curses, hexes and sickleworths."

"Er… what's a sickleworth?" asked Lee equally as confused as the rest of the class.

"About twenty nine knuts," answered Quirrel before laughing at his own joke, "I always find a quick gag breaks the ice nicely with my new students," he explained to the bemused class, "now, I'm sad to say, that before you can go around with your wands firing off counter-curses and hexes left and right we have to cover a lot of theory work. So wands away and turn to chapter one: the fundamentals of Dark Arts Defence and begin reading."

Fred, George and the rest of the class slowly began to read quietly to themselves, while Quirrel gradually paced around the room going to each student in turn and talked briefly to them. Eventually he filtered down to the front of the class where the twins and Lee were sitting.

"And that means that you three must be Lee Jordan, Fred and George Weasley," Quirrell said looking down at his register, ticking them off.

"That's us," agreed Fred looking up from his book eagerly, "so what's it like being involved in the Dark Arts?"

"Well to be honest," admitted Quirell, "I've only ever studied the Dark Arts, you know, learnt the theory but I've arranged it with Dumbledore to take a year off next year."

"What are you going to do?"asked Lee animatedly.

"I've got it all planned out," explained Quirrel excitedly, "I'm going to travel all over the world to areas that are rife with the Dark Arts and I'll use my extensive knowledge to help out the people there."

"Wow," said George impressed, "I'm mean aren't you worried about…well all that?" he waved his hand over the portraits of beasts.

"Oh no," said Quirrel shaking his head, "I think it's all rather exciting, I've read all the books I can on the subject so I've sure if I'm confronted with a Zombie or the like I'll be more then able to cope with the situation. I wanted to travel after I had left Hogwarts of course, but mother wasn't really keen on the idea so I started work as a researcher for the Ministry, and then luckily I managed to be made a professor here. I must say I'm really looking forward to getting out there, its so frightfully thrilling."

"What do you think?" whispered Lee as Quirrel made his way back to his desk.

"To be honest," said George, "I think when he heads out into the big wide world, he is going to get eaten alive."

Fred looked up at the closest portrait that showed a snarling werewolf with huge teeth, "you know I think that might be a very real possibility George."

The first year Gryffindors filed out of the room at the end of the lesson, everyone a little disappointed with not having actually performed any magic. The twins traipsed outside the school to have a wander around the grounds during the break, Lee had to rush back to their dormitory to collect his Potions book, and they were absentmindedly talking about their first impressions of Hogwarts as the strolled along.

"HA, caught you!" screeched a voice, making the twins jump wildly.

"Oh hello Mr Filch," said Fred calming down.

"Who are you talking to?" asked a puzzled George looking over his shoulder.

"Don't act all innocent with me, I knew what you were trying to do?" Filch sneered waving an accusing finger at the two of them, "you were sneaking off into the forest."

The two twins looked around themselves and for the first time actually took in where they were, just a few paces ahead of them was the start of the forest, a dark thicket of trees meant that they could only see a little way in.

"See," cackled Filch gleefully, "going into the forest after you had been told not too, you'll get a big punishment for that," he looked longingly into the distance, "maybe they'll let me use the Rack."

"Er…sorry to spoil your fun there Mr Filch," apologised George breaking Filch's daydream, "but Fred and I haven't done anything wrong."

"Yet," added Fred.

"Well of course I meant 'yet'," pointed out George, "we aren't Percy are we?"

"Yes you have done something wrong!" Filch spat, "you were out of bounds!"

"No," corrected George, "if we had carried on walking without really looking then yes we would have been out of bounds."

"However," continued Fred, "because you jumped out at us you actually stopped us from breaking any school rules."

"But…" Filch stood there mouth open, finger still raised accusingly at the two.

"I mean thanks a lot Mr Filch," George said gratefully.

"Yeah, it was really kind of you to look out for us like that," nodded Fred.

"But… y-y-you were going out of bounds," whined Filch crestfallen.

"Quite possibly but now we'll never know. Of course, we'll have to repay you," admitted Fred before looking around suspiciously before beckoning Filch closer, "now normally I wouldn't tell tales on any fellow students, but I can't just let this happen."

"Let what happen?" responded Filch eagerly as all thoughts turned to punishing students once again.

"I overheard something this morning at breakfast," Fred continued keeping his voice low, while occasionally looking up and around to see if anyone else was listening in, "I think a couple of third years had a disagreement last night and they decided that the only they were going settle it was to have a wizard's duel."

"HA," said Filch triumphantly, "duels are against the rules."

"Shhhh," said Fred waving Filch into silence, "now I think that I heard them say that the duel was to take place during this break period."

"Damn," swore Filch looking back up to the castle, "they are probably doing it right now."

"Now I think that I heard them say," Fred placed a hand on Filch's shoulder and lowered his voice again, "that they were going to do it in one of the disused classrooms, number three I think."

"I've got them," said Filch eagerly, before grabbing Fred's hand and shaking it energetically, "I won't forget this you mark my words."

As he swiftly strode towards the school the twins could hear him muttering darkly to himself, "expelled that's what'll happen once I catch them…"

"Er…Fred?" asked George.

"Yes George," he replied innocently.

"Correct me if I am wrong but isn't classroom three where Charlie said that Peeves had put a bucket full of Stinkpellets above the door?"

"Did he?" smiled Fred before sticking a finger in his ear and giving it a wiggle, "you know I should really get something done about my hearing."

"Where's Filch going in such a hurry?" asked Lee who had got his Potion's book and had come back down to find the twins, "I doubt he has ever looked so happy."

"He has a date with destiny," informed Fred.

"Yep," smiled George, "or in the very least he has a date with a bath later."

"Come on we'd better get to Potions," said Lee, "you can tell me on the way."

"Right, we don't want to be late for Snape," nodded Fred, "Charlie says he is worse then McGonagall."

The three boys reached the Potion's class and slipped into the room, the Gryffindors had this lesson jointly with the first years from Slytherin House so it was already half full by the time they found some seats. The room was dark, and cold, mainly due to the fact that it was in the dungeons, it also had a strange musky smell, no doubt from all the jars and bottles of ingredients on the shelves and in the drawers.

"Any ideas what Professor Snape is like?" asked Lee wrinkling his nose at the unusual aroma filling the room.

"Well so far Bill, Charlie and Percy have all said that he is the meanest, cruellest and snidest teacher that they have ever had," explained George, "plus since he is Head of Slytherin he tends to only be nice to them."

"So I think we're in for a nice, laid back, fun filled lesson," said Fred smiling.

"Put you wands away, you won't be needing them here," said a cold voice softly from behind the class, the twins turned around and saw a tall dark manstanding in the doorway. Hehad long greasy black hair, a stretched hooked noseand an expression of pure contempt on his face as his gaze washed over the class.

Just then the patter of footsteps could be heard getting louder, and a few seconds later an out of breath Angelina appeared at the doorway opening.

"Sorry I'm late Professor," she gasped, "I had to go back for my book."

"If you can't be bothered to arrive at my class on time," Snape said coolly, "then I can't be bothered in teaching you, make sure to be here promptly next week," he went to close the door with Angelina still outside it.

"But what about today's lesson?" she asked incredulously.

"There will be plenty of time for you to go over what you missed in detention," and with that he slammed the door shut in her face, turning back around he looked that the stunned class, "I believe I said to put your wands away."

The first years quickly grabbed their wands and stowed them in their robes as Snape strode down to the front of the class, he stood behind a very large bubbling cauldron and faced the class, surveying them with his cold black eyes.

"You are here to learn the noble art of Potion making," he whispered softly, he face lit by the flickering light of the candles and cauldron fire in the room, "it is an exact science, requiring patience, timing, and attention to detail. For these reasons there are very few that show a more then average ability in this subject, for those that are adept," he gaze swept across the majority of Slytherin's in the class when he said this, "I will be able to teach you how to survive poisons, brew strength, and defeat your enemies without having to mutter a single incantation. As for the rest of you," his eyes glided over to the Gryffindor tables and stared down at the Weasley twins, "I'm sure you'll do much better in the lessons where you need to gesture wildly with your wands."

Snape put everyone in the room into pairs, expect Lee who had no one to be partners with since Angelina hadn't been allowed in, and set them the task of making a simple sleeping potion. Well, Snape had said it was simple, but from looking at the instructions on the board it was actually quite complex, especially considering it was their first lesson. As they were cutting and slicing ingredients Snape stalked through the pairings watching them preparing their potions, snapping criticisms at practically all of the Gryffindors while praising his own Houses students.

"Admirable work," as he examined one cauldron belonging to two Slytherin first years, he stepped over to look in Fred and Georges. Despite the fact that they had followed the instructions perfectly and the liquid within had gone completely clear exactly how it was suppose to, all Snape said was, "adequate."

At the end of the lesson one person from each pair brought a sample up to the top of the class for Snape to give to a bunch of rabbits that he had brought in. Most of them work, with varying degrees of success, some of the rabbits would stumble around woozily before lying down and nodding off, Lee's on the other hand turned all the rabbit's fur purple before it passed out.

"Foolish boy," sneered Snape, "clearly, you added the whole stem of the Strophanthus plant rather then just the tips."

Only two samples worked perfectly, the one from the twins and the one from Rachel Mungra and Stanley Bickerstaff, both Slytherins.

"Excellent," as Snape gave one rabbit a sip from the vial, which sent it instantly to sleep, "Bickerstaff, Mungra, a house point each I think. For your homework I want two feet of parchment on the potion you have just made."

"I can't believe he didn't award us any House Points?" Fred complained as they were walking out of the class, Lee had been made to stay back and clear away the ingredients, "ours worked just as good as theirs," nodding at the backs of the two departing Slytherin students.

"Ahh well I have something much better then any House Point," George smiled smugly before pulling out a small bottle containing a clear water like liquid.

"Is that some of our potion?" asked Fred.

"Yep, I bottled some when Snape wasn't looking, thought it might come in useful to have some around," George pocketed it as they made their way up the stairs to the ground floor, "maybe we should offer it to Percy as a concentration potion for when he is studying."

"Urgh," Fred grimaced and held his hand up to his nose, "what in Merlin's beard is that stench?"

"YOU!"

George and Fred managed to turn enough to see that the shouting voice came from a rather ripe smelling Filch before he grabbed both by their collars and dragged them down the corridor with him. Within minutes the twins had found themselves back in the familiar surroundings of Filch's office.

The twins stood there in silence, trying not to breath into much as Filched pulled a kettle out from the fire, poured it into a teapot and threw some tea leaves in as well. This accomplished, he went to his file cabinet and pulled out Fred and George's ones, which he slammed down hard on his desk before sitting down and staring at them malevolently.

"So… did you catch them?" asked Fred innocently.

"NO I DIDN'T," shouted Filch spraying spit everywhere, "I went to classroom three and you know what I found instead of duelling students?"

"Some kind of cake?" guessed George, "possibly chocolate."

"You know what I found cos you put it there!" stated Filch firmly.

"You left him a cake in classroom three?" questioned Fred as turned to his brother, "it's a bit of a strange place to leave a cake."

"Stinkpellets!" shouted Filched red with rage, "a hold load of Stinkpellets, I got covered in them."

"Why would you cover yourself in Stinkpellets?"asked Fred frowning, "if you didn't want George's cake you could have just said no, it seems a bit of an extreme thing to do."

"I didn't do it!" Filch snarled, "they were in a bucket on top of the door."

"And you think we had something to do with it?" asked George.

"No I don't think," Filch spat pointing at the two of them, "I know it."

Filch grabbed a quill, dunked it into the inkwell as he pulled open Fred's file first, and started to scribble away on the parchment.

"Since you are updating our diary," Fred said breezily, "could you add in Lee's birthday?"

"It's the twenty second of November," a helpful George cut in, "we're gonna get him something nice."

"If you want you can come in with us on something," added Fred, "we can split it three-ways then."

Filch's eye's bulged and he looked as though he was about to explode, luckily before he could do so Professor Flitwick knocked on the door.

"Yes?" asked Filch gruffly.

"I'm sorry to disturb you Mr Filch," said Flitwick in his high voice, "but I thought you should know."

"Know what?" queried Filch distractedly as he carried on writing on Fred's file.

"Well it seems that Peeves has got hold of a supply of Stinkpellets."

The sound of the quill scratching against the parchment stopped, "Stinkpellets?"

"Yes, he placed them in a bucket over my door, I got absolutely covered," Flitwick pulled at the shoulder of his robes and gave them a sniff, "hence the smell. I was just wondering if you could check some of the other rooms while I go and take a bath to get rid it."

Flitwick disappeared from the doorway and Filch looked up from his desk at the twins who were now grinning from ear to ear.

"You can wipe those stupid smiles off your faces for a start," he said standing up and grabbing a broom that was leaning against the wall, "just because you didn't do it doesn't mean you won't get punished. You still sent me to that room knowing what would happen."

"I'll deal with you two later," he warned striding to the door, when he reached it he turned around and glared at them menacingly, "don't think you have got away with this, it'll be added to your report when I get back and I'll be keeping a close eye on the pair of you."

"You know George," pondered Fred as the two twins were now left alone in the room, "I think we have a friend for life there."

"I think you are right there brother," agreed George, "but you know what?"

"What?"

"Our dear friend seems very very stressed out," George said sympathetically, "what he could do with is a nice rest," George pulled out the bottle of sleeping potion, pulled out the stopper and emptied the contents into the teapot.


	5. Fruit of the Forest

"Ahh it really is a glorious day," beamed George leaning back as he pushed his plate away, "the sun is shining, my stomach is feeling the warm glow of happiness that only a full breakfast can bring and there is something else that is making this a good day…but I can't put my finger on it…" he scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"Could it be," Fred buttered another piece of toast, "that it's the weekend and we have no classes?"

"You know, I think you might be right Fred," nodded George, "so what shall we do with our freedom dear brother?"

"Well," said Fred spraying crumbs everywhere as he took a large bite, "the way I see it is this, either we can use our free time to finish off our homework and get in a few hours of extra studying in the library, or, and I know this would be highly unlike us, we could just go out in search of fun."

"Hmm," George frowned as though he was thinking hard about making a tough decision, "as much as I would love to work on my Potions essay I think I am going to have to plump for the second choice there."

At that moment Lee walked into the Great Hall, with a huge grin stretching from ear to ear, he practically skipped over to the table Fred and George were at.

"What are you so happy about?" asked George.

"Is it because the tenth House-Elf finally caved into the pressure and now they all recommend Mrs. Skower's all-purpose Magical Mess Remover?" Fred cut in before Lee could answer.

"I've just been speaking to Professor McGonagall," explained Lee excitedly, "and she told me that I've got it."

"Really?" George said suspiciously, "did she say if it was contagious or not?"

"No, I've got the commentator's job," Lee plonked himself down into a chair and started to make himself a bacon sandwich.

"Well done," congratulated Fred, "how did you manage that?"

"Obviously my extensive knowledge about Quidditch was enough to clinch it for me," said Lee modestly, "that and I was the only person to apply for it."

"At least you are guaranteed the best view of the pitch," pointed out George, "I think this is a cause for celebration, Fred and I were just off to explore the school in more depth. Are you in?"

"Wish I could," said Lee glumly, "but I've got detention with Filch."

"How come?"

"My cousin sent me some Stinkpellets through the post," explained Lee, "and Filch caught me when I was opening the package and claimed I was smuggling them into the school. So now I have to help sweep out the owls for the next hour. I can't believe he overreacted like that."

"I know," agreed Fred, "he's usually so laid back and easy going."

"True," admitted Lee, "but since the other day when he got caught sleeping on the job by McGonagall he has been unbearable."

"So when do you have to start?"

"In about ten minutes," Lee answered looking down at his watch, before picking up his sandwich, "I'd better go now, the last thing I need would be to be late."

As they watched their friend slink out of the Hall, Fred turned to his brother with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" he asked.

"Yes," agreed George, "but where are we going to find a gnome and a catapult this early in the morning?"

"Erm…ok," dismissed Fred, "Filch is with Lee, and Lee will be in the Owlery for the foreseeable future. So that means that Filch won't be keeping an eye on anything else."

"Ahh," nodded George sagely, "so you are saying we could sneak the gnome and catapult in?"

"Would you forget about the gnome and the catapult?" then Fred actually thought about it, "just for the moment of course, since you have actually peaked my interest there. What I mean, is that Filch won't be watching other parts of the school like say, I don't know, a certain forest for example."

"Oh," comprehension finally dawned, "well what are we waiting for? Unless you happen to have a gnome on you right now…no? Ok let's go."

"It's very impressive," Fred said to his brother as they stood at the edge of the forest looking in, "come on before someone sees us."

The twins pushed through the undergrowth and into the forest itself, the trees, being close together, blocked out a lot of the sun and so gave it a cold and eerily dark feel that would have made any normal person wary and anxious as they stepped through the foliage. Fred and George, however, were singing.

"I'm pretty sure those aren't the real words," pointed out George as Fred had finished a verse of his favourite Weird Sisters song.

"Hey, its not my fault if I can find away to improve them," countered Fred before suddenly coming to a stop, "hmm what's that?"

They had walked far into the forest and the dense collection of trees had ceased and revealed a clearing.It wasn't that big, about the size of one of the large classrooms in the school, and was covered with short grass and the occasional flower poking up. There seemed to be a large brown mound in the centre of the clearing.

"What do you reckon?" asked George.

"Well it might be dangerous," concluded Fred, "but we aren't going to know that until we go up to it and poke it with a stick."

The two brothers cautiously stepped out into the clearing, suddenly becoming very aware that they were highly visible to anyone or anything lurking within the trees. As they slowly and steadily made their way over to the brown mound each of them pulled out their wands.

"Ok," said Fred anxiously, "it anything comes running out of the forest at us, you float a tomato at it and I'll attempt to turn it into a needle."

They were soon close enough to realise that the large brown mound was in fact made up of fur, whatever it was it was an animal; and it was big.

A loud snort emanated from the beast, followed by what sounded almost like a groan. Fred and George looked at each other unsure what their next course of action should be. They slowly tried to circle the animal, carefully sidestepping around it.

SNAP

They froze. George looked down at the freshly broken twig that was sticking out from underneath his foot. There was a sudden movement from the fur. The twin's jumped back, wands at the ready.

The animal pushed itself onto all fours, then up onto it's two hind legs and turned to face them. It was covered in mounds of dark brown matted fur, and towered above the twins. Its huge paws reveal razor long sharp claws, and its face almost had a human quality to it, with possibly the exception of the two rows of jagged teeth which it was bearing at the twins.

The twins slowly backed away, but before they could decide what to do, the beast gave another pathetic moan and collapsed back onto the ground.

"I think that's a bugbear," said Fred wand still raised.

"I think you're right," agreed George, "I wonder what's wrong with it."

"It looks hurt," observed Fred, the beast had rolled a bit on its side to reveal an arrow sticking out of it's side. Dark red blood was oozing out of the wound.

"Hey do you remember that story of the boy and the dragon with the thorn in its foot that mum use to tell us?" asked George his eyes never leaving the bugbear.

"Er…yeah I think," frown Fred as he tried to recall it, "oh you've got to be kidding if you think that'll happen."

"What?"

"Need I remind you that that was a children's story," pointed out Fred, "I don't think that if we remove the arrow that thing will suddenly decide it wants to be our pet."

"It's possible," argued George, "bugbears have a certain amount of intelligence, so I'm sure if we remove that arrow it'll feel better and realise that it was due to us."

"Either that or it'll feel better and realise that it's hungry."

"What's the worse that could happen?"

"Er… it'll feel better and realise that it's hungry?"

"True," admitted George, "but the best that could happen is that we end up with a really cool pet, much better then Charlie's rat."

"Fine," conceded Fred, "but if it attacks us, we both die and come back as ghosts then I reserve the right to say I told you so."

"Fair enough," agreed George, "but if I'm right then I get to name him."

"Ok. So what are you going to call him?"

"John," said George firmly.

"John?" Fred replied amazed, "it's not really a name befitting a ten foot beast is it?"

"Hey," George interrupted, "it's my idea to make John here our pet, next time you think of something like that you get to name it."

"Fine," apologised Fred, but quietly muttered under his breath as they slowly closed in on the stricken creature, "John, stupid name. Might as well call him Kevin or Steve."

They crept forward. Inching their way towards the beast which was observing them suspiciously as they approached. George was keeping his arms open and was keeping his voice low trying to sooth the bugbear, while Fred kept his wand firmly aimed at it.

"It's ok John," reassured George as the beast tried to stir a bit, "I'm here to help. You wait there Fred, I'll pull the arrow out."

As George got close to the bugbear it tried to snarl it's teeth at him and bare it's claws but its weaken state was too much for it and it just laid back on the ground prone. With bated breath George lent forward to grab hold of the end of the arrow, all the while waiting to jump back if needed. Fred made sure he had a good view of the beast in case he needed to hit it with a spell, although he wasn't sure if he knew any that would have been any use, but he felt that now was not the best time to inform his brother of this.

George wrapped his hand around the arrow and pulled as hard as he could. As it was ripped out of the bugbears body it gave an almighty howl, George stumbled backwards still holding onto it and Fred had to grab hold of him to stop him from falling over. They both jumped back as the beast continued to howl, it's snarling face contorted from the sharp pain it had just received. The two brothers continued to back away.

"What's that?" asked George pointed over the bugbear's body into the trees beyond.

"I think its another one," concluded Fred, "except this one is much bigger then John. I think John might actually be Johnetta."

"And that one is it's mate?" asked George waving his wand at the new beast that was just about to move into the clearing.

"Yeah," agreed Fred as the brothers carried on backing away, "it's Steve and man is he angry."

The male bugbear pushed its way into the clearing and gave an loud deafening roar, that caused a number of birds to leap from the canopies of the trees and fly off, before it dropped onto all four paws and charged.

The twins immediately turned and sprinted away back towards the schools through the forest. The beast was fast over the open ground but once it got to the enclosed surroundings the trees began to slow him down, where as the twins quickly slalomed between each one, occasionally looking over their shoulders to see how far behind it was.

Soon the roars of the beast faded as the brothers managed to put enough distance between them, but they carried on running anyway just in case. They splashed through a shallow stream as the edge of the tree line appeared through the undergrowth and both put on a final effort to burst through onto the safety of the well-kept grass of the school. They both stopped and looked back into the forest, breathing hard and both feeling as if their hearts were about to bounce out of their ribcages.

"I…told…you…so," wheezed Fred, resting an arm on his brother's shoulder for support.

"Well... at… least we…know now," replied George wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Oi, you two," boomed the unmistakable voice of Hagrid, who had just come out of his hut, "don't think I'm gonna let ya wander off into that forest, its forbidden."

"Don't worry Hagrid," reassured George, still taking in big mouthfuls of air, "we would never even consider it."

"Hagrid?" asked Fred, "Charlie said you are a bit of an expert when it comes to beasts."

"He did?" Hagrid blushed with pride.

"Yeah," said Fred, "and well I was just wondering has anyone ever successfully domesticated a bugbear?"

"A bugbear?" frowned Hagrid, "What on earth do you want to know that fer?"

"For our Care of Magical Creatures lesson of course," covered George, "we have to write a foot of parchment about any beast we want to."

"Oh of course, well to be honest I've never heard of anyone ever managing it," admitted Hagrid, "not to say it aint impossible. The trick with animals you see is to find out how to keep them calm. Take Fang here," he pointed to his great boarhound who, rather then appear to be the fearsome predator that his name suggested, lolled about on the ground with his tail wagging, "er… probably no' the best example, but my point is still righ'."

"Cheers Hagrid, that'll really help," said Fred before they gave him a wave and headed up back towards the castle, "'we'll pull the arrow out' you said, 'it'll be our pet' you said. It could have killed us."

"Yeah, sorry," apologised George, "still, it was bloody exciting."

"Well there is that," grinned Fred, "I'd hate to end up getting killed by something dull."

The twins slowly made their way back up to the school, both talking animatedly about the bugbear and the forest in general. They bounded up the stone steps and into the castle.

"I hope John's ok," worried George as they walked into the cool air of the school.

"Ahh she'll be fine," consoled Fred, the twins started to climb up the main stairs, "those bugbears are tough. But to be honest I think we should surround ourselves with less dangerous animals, like Filch."

"Or Percy when he is trying to study."

"MY FLOOR! WHO DID THIS?"

The twins stopped dead on the stairs, George let out a very loud sigh and sagged his shoulders, casting a sidelong look at his brother he softly asked, "Filch?"

"Yep, Filch," confirmed Fred looking over his shoulder.

There, trailing from the hefty front gates of the school, across the floor and up to the steps that the twins were currently on, were a series of muddy footprints. They slowly looked down at their feet and saw that the majority of their legs from the knees down were caked in dirty brown mud from where they had been running through the forest. They looked back up and could see Filch staring up at them eyes ablaze and seething.

"Do you think he saw us?" whispered George hopefully.

"You two," shouted Filch, beckoning them towards him with and outstretched finger, "come here."

The twins doggedly followed the caretaker along the corridors, waving to their fellow students as they passed. Once again they found themselves standing in front of Filch's desk as he muttered under his breath while adding to their records.

"I know it's been I while since I have been here," said Fred looking around the room, "but I love what you have done with the place."

"Yes," agreed George, "I especially like the collection of chains you have hung up over there, they give it a very traditional homely feel."

"Joke all you want," sneered Filch as he finished writing, "but I'm watching you two, anything you do, everywhere you go I'll be there, and if you even do so much as sneeze in the library, it'll go in here," he held up each of their files and shook them, "and when I have enough of your crimes in here I'll have you expelled."

Filch threw the files back down onto his desk, leant back smugly in his chair and waited for Fred and George to crumble under his intimidating stare.

"Really?" asked an amazed George, "if we sneeze you'll make a note?"

"That's right, everything will go in."

"Oh Mr Filch," gushed a happy George, "not only are you keeping a diary for us but you're also keeping a track of when we are ill."

"Er…no," flustered Filch as he righted his chair, "that's not…"

"There is no need to be modest," Fred cut in, "my brother and I have noticed how you are always looking out for us."

"N-no," stammered Filch, "that's not what I…"

"You know," George interrupted, "our mother was worried about us being away from home, but she'd be so pleased that you have taken us under your wing. Oh and whenever I am ill, I tend to like chicken soup to eat, you should note that down as well."

"Good idea George," nodded Fred, "put me down for the same."

"No, no, no," shouted Filch thumping his fist down on the desk, "you boys will learn respect. You see this?" Filch grabbed a piece of parchment off of a pile, "this is a request to the Headmaster to allow me to use my chains for punishments, and when he signs it, you two will be the first of many to be strung up in the dungeons," he threw the page back down, stood up, grabbed two mops and flung them at the twins, "now take these and go an clean up your mess, and do a proper job I want to be able to eat my dinner off the floor once you are done."

The twins caught a mop each, George grabbed an empty bucket off of the floor and they went to head out. Fred stuck his head back around the door.

"Sorry Mr Filch, but I was just wondering what you are having for dinner?"

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"Oh well, depending on what you are going to have will decide how clean we need to get the floor."

"That's true actually," joined in George as he stood back in the doorway, "I mean if you are having soup we are really going to have to scrub it hard, but if it is just sandwiches…"

"GET OUT!" shouted Filch.

"Hey Fred," asked George as they twins set off back down the corridor, the mops resting over their shoulders.

"Yes George."

"What do you like best about our new friend Filch?"

"Well to be honest it has got to be that vein on his forehead that seems to always be bulging."

"Me too," agreed George, "we should get him a present to say thanks."

"Dungbombs or Stinkpellets?" asked Fred.

"Oh neither of those, far to easy," dismissed George, "we are going to have to get something special for our dear new friend."


	6. Forgetmenots

"So have you come up with any ideas yet?" asked Fred slouching into one of the armchairs by the fire of the Gryffindor common room.

"Yeah," answered George leaning forward, "we're going to hit him where it'll hurt him the most."

"You're going to kick him in the groin?" Fred said amazed, "well I've got to admit it lacks a certain sense of style but it'll do the job I guess."

"No, we aren't going to kick him in the groin," said George shaking his head, then stopping as he thought about it,"no definitely not. What does Filch like to do more then anything in the world?"

"That's easy, be mean to students."

"Correct," smiled George, "now what would be the single worst thing you could make him do?"

"Ahh," nodded Fred leaning back into the soft squishy chair before frowning, "but how are you going to make Filch kick himself in the groin, cos lets face it I doubt if he is that bendy."

"Look will you forget about kicking him in the groin for a moment."

"I would do but it's your plan."

"No, my plan is that we are going to make Filch be nice to students," George smiled smugly and sat back waiting for the appreciation for such a good idea.

"Interesting," nodded Fred, "there is just one slight flaw in an otherwise well thought out plan."

"And what's that?"

"Filch being nice to students is like us deciding to study," pointed out Fred, "it's just not natural."

"Yes," George cut in dismissively, "but we aren't going to ask him to be nice, we are going to trick him into it."

"Oh that's a much better idea," said Fred enthusiastically, "so how are we going to manage that?"

"Haven't a clue," admitted George, "but we can work on it."

The twins spent the next couple of days wracking their brains trying to work out anyway that they could manage to put their plan into action. Unfortunately every time one of them worked out a possible way of managing it, the other brother would point out the generally blatant flaws in the plan. It wasn't until their second Potions lessons that the possibility of success reared its head.

"Your instructions are up there," Snape waved a hand at the blackboard, "it's a simple potion so only the most idiotic of you will get it wrong."

As the pairs of students left their cauldrons to go and gather the required ingredients, George looked at the board, then at Fred, and then grinned.

"Sir?" asked George raising his hand.

"It is a simple potion Mr Weasley," sneered Snape, "I doubt I could have made the instructions more straight forward."

"It's not about the instructions sir, it about the potions effects, I mean how does it work?"

"The Forgetfullness Potion," began Snape as George began taking notes, much to the amazement of his brother, "when taken it confuses a person's mind so their short term memory is effected. The effects are neither permanent nor harmful, unlike Memory Charms."

"So it won't make someone forget everything?" clarified George, "like say who they are?"

"No not this one," admitted Snape, "although a more complicated version of this potion does exist. However I doubt that anyone here is capable of making it if your homework is anything to go by. Incidentally Mr Weasley when I ask for two feet of parchment I expect two full feet and not the feet in question to belong to a House-Elf."

"What was all that about?" whispered Fred as they begun slicing their ingredients up.

"Well if we can get Filch to forget that he is a mean vicious git," explained George, "then we can tell him that he is usually really nice to all the students."

"And thus a happy nice Filch is created," concluded Fred.

"Exactly," agreed George, "all we need to do now is find that recipe for the more complex version and we are laughing."

The rest of the lesson was done in silence as Snape stalked between the cauldrons simmering away, soon it was over and they packed away their equipment, or at least half of the students did. To test whether or not their potions were successful one person from each pair had to volunteer to take a sip, Snape assured them that as they were only taking a small amount that the effects would only last a few minutes, assuming of course that they had followed the instructions correctly. George was replacing the shaved goat horn back on the shelf as Fred was staring vacantly at himself in the reflection of the window; similar effects were had on most of the other volunteers, with the possible exception of Lee. Unfortunately Angelina had become nervous and distracted under the watchful gaze of Snape and had accidentally mixed up the order of the ingredients, the result being that Lee had sprouted a pair of rather fetching horns.

Fred and George headed up to the Gryffindor Common Room whilst Lee remained in the class as Snape prepared a potion to reverse the effect of the horns.

"Ok," said George dropping his bag on the table and pulling out his Potions book, Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger, "better check through this."

"Any joy?" asked Fred, a while later as he was practicing floating an Exploding Snap card.

"Nope," admitted George throwing the book back down on the table, "I wonder if we should ask Snape about it?"

"I doubt it," disagreed Fred as his floating card exploded causing everyone in the room to jump, "he'd want to know why we are asking about it, he seems the nosy sort."

"Yeah," nodded George as his brother floated another card, "do you think Charlie would know?"

"I don't think so," said Fred keeping his eyes on the card wafting in front of him, "he dropped Potions as soon as he could remember? He didn't like being cooped up in the dungeons."

Fred's card exploded loudly again, this time Percy looked up from his book with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Do you mind?" he snapped holding up his book, "some of us are trying to study."

"Hey Percy," said George looking at his brothers book, "where did you get that book? You didn't pick it up in Diagon Alley."

"Of course I didn't buy it there," Percy settled back into his chair, "I got it out of the Library."

"The Library," the twins chorus together grinning at each other.

"Let's go," Fred grabbed his bag, his brother doing the same and they sped out of the common room nearly knocking Alicia out of the way as they went through the portal. After about ten seconds Fred poked his head back into the room.

"Percy?" he called loudly, making his brother release a loud sigh before looking up, "where's the Library?"

The two twins spent their evening, searching through books, reference files, and indexes. Fred had looked in 'Quick Potions For the Wizard on the Go', 'Magick Potions and their Practical Use' and 'Olde and Forgotten Potions. While George had scanned through, 'Advanced Potion-Making', 'Useful Potions and their Application' and 'Quidditch Through the Ages'.

"Anything?" Fred asked closing Olde and Forgotten Potions.

"Yeah," said George enthusiastically, "the Doppelganger Defence sounds brilliant."

"Er…George?" Fred lent forward and read the title of his brother's book, "we're suppose to be looking for the complex version of the Forgetfulness Potion."

"I know," George agreed putting down Quidditch Through the Ages, "I couldn't find anything about it in those books so I thought I might as well read something interesting. Come on there isn't anything here lets go."

"You're right," agreed Fred, "I can't believe we thought the Library would be useful."

"Hey what about in there?" George pointed to a curtained off area of the library with a signed placed next to it which read 'Restricted Section', "that sounds like our kind of area."

"Nice one bruv," grinned Fred, "I'm sorry I ever said anything bad about the Library."

Fred and George grabbed their bags and headed over to the curtained off area, Fred took one side of it in his hand and went to draw it aside.

"What do you think you are doing?" snapped a sharp voice, the twins turned around to see a thin vulture like woman with a shrivelled face advancing on them brandishing a large feather duster.

"Er… we were going in there?" George pointed at the restricted area.

"I don't think so," said the woman stepping in front of the curtain, "you need a signed permission form from a teacher to be allowed in there, and I am assuming that neither of you have one?"

"Would you believe we left it back upstairs?" George said quickly.

"That's right," joined in Fred, "and I mean that's a long way to go for a bit of paper don't you think?"

"Tell you what," George considered, "we'll just get the book we need now and we'll bring down the permission slip later."

The woman just stood there and gave them the kind of withering look that their mother usually reserved especially for the twins.

"Perhaps we'll just go," Fred said defeated.

"Perhaps you should," sniffed the woman, who continued to remain in place as she watched the twins leave the library.

"Oh that'll be Madam Pince," explained Lee as the twins brought him up to speed back in the Common Room, "she is obsessed with the library. She threw me out just because I brought in a sandwich… and some jam donuts… and well some hot chocolate too."

"I'll bet anything you want that the book we need is in there," George stated firmly.

"Yeah but how are you going to get in there with Madam Pince stalking the bookshelves?" asked Lee.

"Ahh Lee," Fred reassured his friend, "I'm guessing that Pince is only there when then Library is officially open."

"We'll just wait until late and it's empty," added George, "I mean we wouldn't want to disturb her. We're considerate like that."

"So are you in?" asked Fred.

"Are Manticores venomous?" responded Lee.

"Er…I don't know?" admitted Fred, "Are they?"

"Actually I have no idea, but yeah I'm in."

The three friends whiled away the evening chatting about a whole range of subjects as they played Exploding Snap, much to the annoyance of Percy. Angelina and Alicia both stopped by for some help on their History of Magic essays but soon realised that Lee and the twins probably weren't the best source of information, mainly due to the fact that they tended to make up the dates and names of the battles.

Soon it became quiet in the Common Room after the majority of students had drifted away to their various dormitories, the low murmur of whispered conversations could just be heard above the gentle crackle of the fire. Fred nodded at the other two and they all rose and headed out of the portrait.

Creeping along very slowly and quietly, they slowly made their way towards the Library. They gradually walked along the banks of bookshelves until they reached the Restricted Section. Pushing passed the curtain they walked in.

"Any ideas where to start?" whispered Fred.

"Well I'm guessing in the Potions sections," answered George.

"Good idea George," replied Fred sarcastically.

Each of the boys took a section of the bookshelf and quickly read along the spines of the books with their heads turned to one side, occasionally grabbing one off the shelf and flicking through it if they spotted one that looked like it might hold the answer.

"I think I've found it," said Lee in a low voice as he skimmed through the pages of a rather large book, "I have it,here it is."

"Nice one Lee," congratulated George as he took the book and examined it, however Fred was looking the other way.

"I think we have company," he stated.

Following his gaze they saw that there was the light of a lamp slowly flickering from one of the rows of bookshelves.

"Yes Mrs Norris," came the unmistakable drawl of Filch, "I think someone is here too."

The three boys disappeared swiftly down along one of the rows, trying to move as quick as they could without making any noise. They slipped between the stacks silently but no matter where they went to Filch and his cat would follow.

"Look we can't keep doing this," whispered George as they headed down another line of books, "we're just going around in circles."

"Well we cant leave the Library," explained Fred, "when we get to the stairs there won't be anywhere to hide, he'd spot us for sure."

"Couldn't we just run for it?" asked Lee.

"I doubt it," said George, "we'd probably only make it up one flight of stairs before Filch got to them."

"Ok I've got it," whispered Fred quickly as they slinked down another stack of books, "we're nearly back around to the way out, Lee you take the book and Fred and I will distract Filch to give you time to get back."

"What about you?" asked Lee as George passed him the book, "how will you get back without being caught?"

"Simple," explained Fred, "we'll probably only be able to make it up the first flight of stairs, so we'll try and lose him on the first floor, if that doesn't work we'll try and lose him on the second floor, and so on until we have either completely disoriented him or we are back safe in the Common Room."

"Ok, I'm buying you a dictionary for Christmas," said George, "just so you can check up the definition of simple."

Lee headed back through the curtain into the main area of the Library as the two twins continued to circle around using the shelves, at one point it looked like Filch was about to head off after Lee but thinking quickly Fred clattered some books onto the floor to distract him.

The brothers did one more lap of the Restricted Area before they bolted through the curtain and then out of the Library itself. Their shoes slapping hard against the stone floor as they ran as fast as they could.

"I'll get you!" came Filch's voice from behind them.

They darted up the first set of stairs and then off down a corridor, Fred looked over his shoulder and could see the aura of Filch's lamp coming up the stairs. He quickly turned the handle of one of the doors, pushed it open slightly then grabbed his brother's wrist and pulled him into the room opposite.

George opened his mouth to say something but was shushed into silence as Fred pressed his eye against the keyhole. He could hear Filch's footsteps getting closer and closer, his muttering gradually getting louder and louder.

"You'll be going in my file, just like those Weasley boys. Polishing all the suits of armour that's what you'll have to do when I catch you…oho!" Filch stopped just outside the room they were hiding in, the light of the lamp shining through the keyhole making Fred squint against it, "thought you could hide in a class room eh? And that I'd just walk on by. Unfortunately for you I ain't as stupid as you, you should have closed the door properly."

Filch pushed open the door to the other room that Fred had left ajar and stepped into the room, closing it behind him. As the twins cautiously crept out of their hiding place they could hear him boasting on the other side.

"Only one way in or out of this room," the muffled voice snarled, "and I'm not going to move from this doorway until you show yourselves, even if I have to wait here all night."

Trying not to break out in laughter Fred and George snuck back upstairs and through the portrait of the Fat Lady. Lee was waiting for them in the Common Room, with an anxious look on his face and the borrowed potions book on his lap.

"So you got away from Filch?"

"Yeah," smiled Fred, "although I'd steer clear of him tomorrow."

"Cos he probably won't be having a full nights sleep," explained George.


	7. No Comment

"So what do you think, can we make it?" asked Lee cautiously as the twins pawed over Moste Potente Potions examining the Forgetfulness Potion in depth., while they sat in front of the large open fire of the Common Room.

"It doesn't seem that bad," admitted Fred, looking up as George dragged the book into his lap, "the actual method is pretty much like the normal potion. The only problem is getting hold of the ingredients, I haven't even heard of some of the things."

"We'll just make a list of the stuff we need," explained Lee with a firm glint in his eye, "and we'll take a look through the shelves next Potions lesson. They are bound to be in there."

"You really didn't like cleaning out the Owlery did you?" observed Fred.

"What gave it away?"

The three boys each wrote out a list of the ingredients, the plan was that they would tick each one off as they got hold of them, unfortunately that had to wait until the next Potions lesson to be able to do so since most of the ingredients were from the Students Store cupboard.

Snape kept a watchful eye on the class as they proceeded to make the Boil Cure Potion that was currently written on the board.

"I got the tubeworms," whispered Lee as he past the twins'cauldron at the back of the class.

"Nice one," replied Fred slowly stirring a large wooden spoon through the mixture, casting a sideways glance at his brother he whispered quietly, "that's everything except the Jobberknoll feathers."

"I've looked all through the cupboard but I couldn't see any," admitted George as he added crushed snake fangs to the cauldron.

"I bet Snape has a private store in his office for all the ingredients that he doesn't leave lying around for students to use," said Fred firmly.

"Yeah but how are we going to get in there to check?" asked George, "I can't imagine him just letting us in to have a look around."

"That part is easy," explained Fred, picking up a handful of porcupine quills, "what we need is a distraction." He waited until the pair of Slytherin students next to them were looking the other way and he threw the quills into their cauldron, and went back to stirring with an innocent look plastered across his face.

A few moments later as the Slytherin pair returned to mixing their potion a loud hissing sound started to emanate from the cauldron causing everyone to suddenly look over at them. The two stepped back cautiously as clouds of green smoke started to spill over the sides, they looked around the class and up at Snape for some kind of guidance. Before he could offer any their cauldron slowly melted, the green liquid within spilling out onto the floor and dousing the fire beneath it and coveringone of the Slytherins, causing painful looking boils to appear on his skin.

The potion seeped across the floor; practically the entire class ending up standing on Snape's desk at the top of the room as they tried to avoid getting their shoes burnt.

"Evanesco," muttered Snape pointing his wand at the advancing deluge, the liquid disappeared leaving behind the charred twisted remains of the cauldron and one rather unhappy looking student.

"You will each leave a vial full of your completed potion on my desk while I take Bickerstaff to the Hospital Wing," Snape snapped at the class as he led his student away.

"Did you see that?" asked Angelina as the class made their way back to their cauldrons, "if we'd messed up our potions like that he would have called us stupid in front of the whole class and made us find our own way. Just because he is in his House he gets a personal escort."

"Got it," whispered Fred slightly out of breath, as he sidled back in next to his brother, pulling a handful of the feathers out to show him, "Snape's office is full of rare ingredients."

The class emptied out after each pair had put their potion onto Snape's desk and labelled itLee and Angelina's hadn't turned out quite how it was suppose to so Fred and George gave them a sample of their own.

"So when do we start making it?" asked Lee as the three of them climbed the stairs out of the dungeon and into the entrance hall.

"No time like the present," replied George.

"So where will we do it?" Lee enquired.

"Er…" George stopped in his tracks, "you know I didn't even think about that."

"Well we'll need somewhere where we know we won't be disturbed for at least a couple of hours," explained Fred.

"We could use a classroom if we did it on the weekend," George reasoned.

"But what about Filch," pointed out Lee, "he's bad enough at popping up when he isn't wanted, and that's without the smell of a potion boiling."

"True so we need somewhere that Filch won't go," Fred nodded thinking hard.

"So basically either a clothes shop, barbers or the baths," George smiled, then quickly turned to the others, "it has to be somewhere in Gryffindor House, Filch can't get in there without a password."

"Yeah but it isn't exactly the quietest of places is it?" Lee pointed out.

"Look I said I was sorry about that," Fred sighed, "it's not my fault those Filibuster Fireworks went off in the middle of the night."

"Er… didn't you light them," Lee reminded him.

"Oh yeah," admitted Fred, "still, they looked great though."

"That aside, Lee has a good point," George interrupted, "there isn't really anywhere in the House that people don't go, we can hardly barricade ourselves in our dormitories."

"We can't?" asked Fred a little disappointed.

"No, but don't worry, I'm sure we'll think of something."

Unfortunately as big a school as Hogwarts was it was very difficult to find any place of solitude where they wouldn't be disturbed Everywhere they considered was unsuitable. The forest was too dangerous with all the animals around, plus it was hard enough to sneak into it unnoticed without carrying a cauldron. Filch and his cat mercilessly patrolled the school so using the classrooms were out of the question. Snape kept too close an eye on them during their lessons so they couldn't 'accidentally' make the wrong potion. And they couldn't guarantee that the other two boys in their dormitories wouldn't walk in on them. The trio strained their brains over the next few weeks trying to think of every conceivable place they could try and make the potion, and were almost considering abandoning the whole idea before finally the solution presented itself from a very unlikely source.

"What are you looking so pleased about?" Fred asked Percy as he slotted himself into the seat next to him in the Great Hall and started to up fill his plate.

"It's the last weekend in October," Percy pointed out in a matter of fact manner.

"So?" asked George taking a big gulp of orange juice.

"Third years are allowed to go in to Hogsmeade this weekend," explained Percy haughtily.

"Are all of the third years going to be going?" asked Fred slyly.

"Of course they are," said Percy in an amazed voice, "this is the first chance we have ever got to go, so you bet we are all taking this opportunity to visit it. Well apart from Oliver Wood but he'll be busy with Charlie and the rest of the Quidditch team as they prepare for the game this afternoon, he's the keeper."

"Really? All going?" said George looking at his twin and smiling.

Percy, recognising his brothers' look, slammed his fork down

"No, there is no way I'm going to pick anything up from Zonko's joke shop for you. You have been in enough trouble with Filch already and you aren't dragging my reputation down with you."

"Oh Perce," Fred started to cover, "how did you know that's what we were thinking?"

"After growing up with you two," Percy explained, "I have manage to learn when someone is planning on making trouble, in your two's cases it's when you're awake."

"Think it'll be safe?" asked Fred as he climbed the stairs with his brother.

"You heard Percy," responded George, grabbing tightly to the banister as the set of stairs they were on suddenly moved, "all the third years will be in Hogsmeade, there'll be plenty of time to make the potion without getting caught."

"Fair enough," conceded Fred, "we'll get everything ready to go, when they leave we'll give them about ten minutes and then make a start."

They grabbed their supplies from their room and waited patiently looking out of the window for the procession of students to be led away, the older students headed off on their own but the third years were escorted by a teacher, even from high up in Gryffindor tower the diminutive stature of Professor Flitwick was unmistakable as he headed up the line of shapes.

Checking the clock Fred nodded at George and they grabbed all the things that they needed.

"Should we wait for Lee?" asked Fred.

"No, we don't know how much time we'll have," George shook his head, "besides I think he said that McGonagall wanted to talk to him about something this morning."

"Better him then me."

The twins cautiously climbed the two flights of stairs to the third years dormitories, Fred knocked on the door and boldly walked in ready to pretend he was looking for Percy if anyone was there. Luckily his brother had been right and the place was deserted, looking out the window at the Quidditch pitch Fred could see the red and gold colours of the Gryffindor team as they went through their final practice.

Working together quickly the brothers set up the cauldron, opened the windows to make sure the smell of the potion wasn't trapped inside, and laid out the ingredients in the order they would need them.

They steadily and carefully worked through the potion, checking and double-checking each step of the way in the book. Each measurement was meticulously worked out, and each ingredient was attentively added at the correct time and with the exact number of stirs required. The twins didn't know when they would have another chance at making the potion so they had to make sure they got it right the first time.

After what seemed an age the liquid turned a shimmering blue which gradually faded until it became clear.

"Well according to the book that means it's done," confirmed George skimming a finger down the page.

They put as much of it as they could into a large bottle and pushed a cork in the end, before tidying up and attempting to leave the room in the exact state the found it in. They crept back out of the door and down to their room, only breathing a sigh of relief once they were safely inside.

"A job well done," said Fred placing the bottle down on the table between his and Lee's bed, "hmm what's this?"

Already on the table was another bottle of clear liquid, Fred pulled off the cork and wrinkled his nose as he took a whiff.

"No idea," replied George stowing the supplies away under his bed, "it's probably Lee's."

Fred put the bottle back onto the table, dived onto his bed and looked over at his twin.

"So how are we going to get Filch to take this stuff?" he asked propping himself up on one arm, "I don't think he'll fall for, 'hello Mr Filch we've brought you a present to say sorry'," then he thought about this for a moment, "saying that, he might actually be that dumb."

"I was thinking we just do the same as last time," explained George, "try to distract him when he is in the middle of making some tea and just drop some in."

"It's the simple plans that are the best ones," concluded Fred as the door opened and Lee came wandering in holding a long parchment., "alright Lee?"

"Yeah," said Lee looking furiously at the piece of paper, "I'm commentating later so I'm just learning all the players names and numbers, to be honest I'll just bring this with me. It'll be easier. What are you two grinning about?"

"Well while you were off gallivanting," explained George, "Fred and I got on with some extra potions work."

"Really?" said Lee sceptically, "that really doesn't sound like that kind of thing you'd do…oh you mean...?"

"Yep," agreed Fred, "just brewed it, all we have to do is get hauled off to Filch's office. Now that'll be the tricky part cos it's not as if he just drags us off for the smallest of reasons."

"Yeah," laughed Lee, sitting down on his bed, "annoying Filch is always so difficult, although the easiest way I have found to do it is to simply exist."

"True, so what did McGonagall want with you?" asked Fred over his shoulder as he got off of his bed and helped George lift the cauldron up to put it on top of the wardrobe.

"Oh she just wanted to go over a few things about doing the commentating, basically stuff I can say and stuff I can't. I told her I was a bit nervous about the whole thing, so she gave me something called the Draught of Peace, to take a sip out of whenever I got too worried."

"Sounds handy," admitted George as they gave a final push up and the cauldron wobbled onto the top of its home.

The twins turned back around, Fred giving a rather theatrical rubbing of his hands to signify a job well done, Lee however was just sitting there with a rather blank look on this face.

"You alright mate?" asked Fred warily.

"I'm not sure," replied Lee in a strange voice, "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Ok Lee," said George lying back on his bed, "stop messing around."

Lee looked over his shoulder and then around the room, "who are you talking to?"

"Er… George?" cautiously whispered Fred, still looking at Lee, "the bottle Lee is holding, is it our one or his one?"

George sat up quickly in the bed and stared at his friend. In one of Lee's hand was the bottle of the Forgetfulness Potion, in the other was the cork. The other bottle remained untouched on the table.

"Nooooo…" George held his head in his hands, "he didn't?"

"Yeah I think he did," confirmed Fred as they both stared at their friend who was gazing around the room with a look of confusion and amazement.

"Lee?" George asked quietly as if he was talking to a small child.

"Who's Lee?" he responded looking around again to see who they were talking to.

"Er… you're Lee," explained George walking over to his friend, taking the bottle out of his hand and placing it back down onto the table.

"I am?" smiled Lee vacantly, "that's nice, and who are you?"

"I'm George, I'm your friend," he gave a big friendly smile as he said this.

"You are, that's nice," Lee responded dreamily, then looked over at Fred, "hey look there is another one of you."

"No, that's Fred," explained George slowly, "he's your friend too."

"Really?" Lee asked before whispering to George, "he looks a lot like you, you know"

"That's cos we're brothers," said Fred coming forward, "twins in fact."

"Amazing," replied Lee, as the two brothers took an arm each and started to lead him towards the door, "where are we going?"

"We're going to see another friend, her name is Madam Pomfrey."

Fred and George led a rather befuddled Lee down through the Common Room, out through the portal and down to the hospital wing. Their progress would have been faster if Lee hadn't stopped and asked what every person, portrait and thing was.

When they got down to the Hospital Wing Madam Pomfrey was a little bit suspicious of the whole situation.

"What do you mean you just found him?"

"Yeah we came back from breakfast and we found him all weird and not knowing who he was or anything?" Fred replied, his face a mask of angelic innocence.

"He had this bottle though," said George handing her the Draught of Peace potion that he had grabbed just before they had left the dormitories.

"Oh no," Madam Pomfrey sighed shaking her head, "that's the Draught of Peace, Minerva was going to give it to him to steady his nerves. Poor lad must be one of the few people who are allergic to it, it's the hellebore that's in it you see, doesn't agree with everyone."

Madam Pomfrey waved the twins away whilst she reassured them that the potion would wear sooner or later off and their friend would be fine.

"Do you think he'll be ok?" whispered Fred as they were leaving.

"Yeah," admitted George, "the book said the effects weren't permanent and he could have only taken a sip of the stuff."

"Should we tell McGonagall?"

"Oh that's a great idea," replied George sarcastically, "even better lets just go and tell Filch, or how about Snape?"

"Tell me what exactly?" said a cold hard voice from behind them.

"How did you get there so quietly?" asked Fred, oblivious to the piecing stare that Snape was giving them.

"The sound that I choose to make or nottomake when I walk is entirely up to me," Snape said softly, his black eyes flitting between the twins, "and you will address me as Professor or Sir. Now I believe I asked you a question, tell me what?"

"That Lee's in the Hospital Wing," admitted Fred, then under Snape's gaze he added, "Sir."

"Surname Weasley, give me the surname, you don't honestly think I'd waste my time learning your first names do you?"

"Jordan, Lee Jordan, Sir."

"Scrawny looking boy, strange hair and abysmal at Potions," muttered Snape, more to himself as if he was confirming Lee's identity with his memory, "why would I care what's happened to him?"

"He's suppose to be commentating on the Gryffindor Slytherin match today," George said tersely, before reluctantly adding, "Sir."

"Well if he approaches his commentating duties in the same why as he does a cauldron then I doubt he'll be sorely missed,"Snape smiled coldly as he said this. Fred was just about to snap back a retort but they were interrupted by Professor McGonagall who was walking rapidly towards them.

"Sorry to intrude Professor Snape," she said curtly as she waved a hand in acknowledgement before looking at the twins, "have either of you two seen Lee Jordan? He's suppose to be getting over to the Quidditch pitch."

"Yeah," replied George, "he's in the Hospital Wing."

"Good heavens," McGonagall said worriedly, "what is wrong with the boy?"

"Apparently he reacted badly to some potion," explained Fred, "the Draught of Peace I think it was called, we brought him down."

"Oh dear, I bet it was the hellebore," she said shaking her head, "well you did the right thing you two. It's a bit late to try and find a new commentator I guess I'll have to do it."

"It's ok Professor," cut in Fred, "we'll do it."

"You will?" said McGonagall.

"We will?" said an equally amazed George.

"Yeah, George and I know loads about Quidditch," Fred said excitedly, "we've been playing it for years, I mean Charlie made Captain so obviously it's in our blood."

"Well under the circumstances," she waved a hand towards the Hospital Wing, "we are left with little choice, what do you think Professor?"

"As you say, we are left with little choice," Snape looked down his long nose at the two twins, "just remember to keep the commentary unbiased, if there is one thing I can't abide it is blatant favouritism. Professor," he gave McGonagall a brief bow and with a swish of his cloak he turned heel and walked away.

"Well don't stand there gawking all day," said McGonagall abruptly, "you have to get over to the commentary tower."

Professor McGonagall led the twins out of the castle, across the lawn and passed the lake to the huge Quidditch pitch. The pitch was surrounded on all sides by impressive tiered seating to allow spectators to get the best views possible, there were already a large number of people filling the stands and the general hum of chatter could be heard as they got closer.

"Right," McGonagall stopped abruptly in front of one of the wooden towers, "commentary tower is at the top of those stairs. Until the match starts please refrain from talking loudly once you are up there as the megaphone will transmit everything you say."

"Ok," replied George looking up at the top, "aren't you going to join us?"

"No Mr Weasley, I shall be seated with the other teachers. There has never been any reason why a commentator would need to be supervised," she leaned forward her face stern, "please do not give me a reason."

"Don't worry about us Professor," responded Fred jovially, "we'll be alright."

"Yes, well we'll see won't we."

She turned and walked briskly along the side of the stadium as the two brothers began the arduous climb up to the commentary tower. When they reached the top they positioned themselves overlookingthe pitch. In the front of them was a small box with the names of a teams side by side on the top, below each of the names were large zeros and at the bottom of the box were four buttons; two for each team, with 'Goal' and 'Snitch' written on them, protruding from the bottom of the box was a long tube with a strange looking funnel attached to the end, the final thing that set the commentary tower aside from the others was the large megaphone stuck on the side of it.

Taking in the impressive sight Fred nudged his brother in the ribs, "hey George," he whispered, "do you know the names of any of the players?"

"Of course I do."

"Who?"

"Well, there's Charlie, obviously," George ticked off one finger, then frowned, "er… then there is that Wood bloke that Percy was talking about…"

"And?"

"Alright that's it," admitted George defeated but rallied well, "we'll be ok."

"We'll be ok?" replied Fred skeptically, "such overwhelming confidence."

The stands and the towers were soon full to capacity with spectators, the red and gold of Gryffindor and the green colours of Slytherin enveloped the crowd. Even though their teams weren't playing the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuff students were all there, most of them were also wearing the colours of GryffindorSlytherin had won the cup for the last five years and the rest of the House had become quite tired of the smug comments whenever Quidditch was mentioned, anyone else winning it would be better in their opinion.

A huge cheer erupted from the crowd as the two sets of teams walked out on the field, mounted their brooms and soared into the air, each team flying in formation on a lap of honour much to the appreciation of their fans who were waving flags as they passed.

Madam Hoochblew her whistle hard and the two teams arranged themselves in their starting positionFred lent forward and grabbed the funnel.

"Madam Hooch releases the Snitch and it's away," his voice echoed loudly around the stadium.

"There goes a hundred and fifty golden points," joined in George, "there go the Bludgers too…"

"…better keep out the ways of those and finally the Quaffle is about to be put into play."

"And Gryffindor grabs it first and passes it between their Chasers, I don't know his name but the blonde boy has the ball and deftly passes it to…"

"…Miro Franca, I know him, Charlie invited him to stay with us one summer, snores like an elephant, but my word can he fly. He dodges the ugly looking Slytherin Chaser, weaves out the way of a Bludger, bears down on goal… he shoots…"

A loud scream of cheers roared around the pitch.

"Superb goal by Franca the Snorer," Fred continued the commentary as George was pumping the air with his fist cheering his head off along with the majority of the crowd, "the Quaffle's back in play, Ugly has got hold of it for the Slytherin, passes it to the guy with the greasy hair…"

"…Greasy gets blocked by Blondie and fumbles the Quaffle, but Ugly catches it as it drops, he takes a long shot…"

"… saved by the keeper. Wonderful one handed save there by Oliver Wood, if only he was as good at making his bed, yes I'm talking to you, your dormitory is a disgrace…"

"…Wood passes the Quaffle back out to Blondey, who knocks it straight on to Franca, the pretty girl joins them now and the Gryffindor Chasers are flying in tight formation…"

"…Pretty Girl dodges a Bludger hit by the guy with a flat head, but Franca and Blondie are still going forward…"

"…hang on I think Charlie has spotted the Snitch," shouted George excitedly into the funnel as he pointed towards the far end of the pitch.

Charlie was rocketing towards the ground at an impressive speed, just pulling up at the last minute, just a head of him was the unmistakable glimmering Golden Snitch, he reached out his hand ready to grasp it as he closed in on his target.

WHAM!

"Oi! You can't do that!" shouted Fred, one of the Slytherin Chasers had run straight into Charlie knocking him sideways, only the fact that he was such a good flyer meant that he didn't fall off. Madam Hooch blew her whistle hard and pointed at the Slytherin goal.

"Yes a well deserved penalty awarded to Gryffindor," George called out over the loud whistles and cat calls coming from the Slytherin fans, "Madam Hooch is still arguing with the troll facedChaser as Franca takes his shot…GOAL!"

"Gryffindor lead twenty points to zero," Fred pressed a button on the small box in front of him and the scores were updated, "of course we could have won it now if Troll-Face hadn't attacked our brother like that, but there you go," the Slytherin in question glared across at the twins as laughter filtered around the stadium.

"Ugly has the Quaffle, passes it off to Greasy, who throws it to Troll-Face, who misses the catch. Franca intercepted the pass there, just him and the keeper… GOAL!"

"… a well taken goal there from Franca, scored with a left handed shot this time. He must be ambidextrous…"

"…I wouldn't know about that Fred but he can certainly use both his hands. Thirty points to zero and at this rate it's going to be a bit of a whitewash. "

George's prediction seemed to be quite accurate as over the next few minutes Gryffindor scored five more times without reply, in fact the Slytherin team wasn't playing anything like defending champions. Their passing was poor, flying erratic at best. the keeping abysmal, and even when they managed to get a shot on target Wood was far too good for them in goal.

Charlie shot through the centre of the pitch in a sharp dive, scattering Chasers on both sides in his wake, followed closely by the Slytherin Seeker. The crowd erupted into excited cheers as he pulled up quickly, zigzagging left and right keeping the Snitch in his sights. The other Seeker concentrating hard to keep up didn't notice the Bludger being hit in his direction until it was too late, he landed heavily on the ground gasping hard and clutching his stomach trying to draw breath.

"Go on Charlie you're almost there!" shouted George into the funnel as Fred lent over the side of the box screaming encouragement to his brother as he went past.

Charlie pulled his wand up and stopped abruptly at the far end of the pitch. He held his hand up and as the crowd saw the unmistakable shimmering shape of the Golden Snitch between his fingers they exploded into a massive chorus of noise.

Fred was leaping up and down on his chair, Charlie was beaming from ear to ear as he got enveloped by the rest of the team, George on the other hand was so overcome by the moment and had taken to shouting as many Slytherin names as he could remember into the end of the funnel, his voice getting louder and louder as he reached the climax.

"…Professor Snape!…He Who Must Not Be Named!…Salazar Slytherin!…Can you hear me? Your boys took a beating!"

His excited rant was cut short as the funnel was wrestled from his hand by a very irate looking McGonagall. He opened his mouth to say something but the deathly looking stare she gave him stopped the words in his throat before he could say them, plus it didn't seem to help that Fred was currently doing a rather erratic celebration dance next to him. George gently tapped Fred on the shoulder a couple of times but after having his hand slapped away by his brother he ended up having to thump him hard on the arm.

"Ow, what was that for? Oh hi Professor, how did we do?"

"Well Mr Weasley," McGonagall said curtly, "you'll be pleased to know that you and your brother have managed to set a number of new school records."

"Really?" smiled Fred, "that's fantastic. What were the records?"

"You two," McGonagall moved her gaze between the twins, "have just become the first ever commentators to not only have House Points docked but to receive detention as well. Furthermore you are the last students to be ever be allowed to commentate without teacher supervision. Now I suggest you head on back to the castle with the rest of the students before you say something to make matters worse. Although what that would possibly be is beyond me."

As the twins clomped down the wooden stairs and out onto the grass path leading up to the school they were greeted by cheers and pats on the back from a lot of other students, with the exception of Slytherins who just scowled at them as they passed.

"You know Fred," said George as they approached the school entrance, "I think that we might have been a tiny bit biased with our commentating."

"Really?" replied Fred, as he gave a group of Slytherins a friendly wave that was returned only with malevolent glares, as any retaliation would have been under the watchful noses of the teachers, although the look on Snape's face suggested he probably would have joined in, "you know I doubt if anyone really noticed."


	8. A Fresh Outlook On Life

The aftermath of the Quidditch match was still going on days later. Students, some who the twins had never met before, were coming up to Fred and George and congratulating them on a job well done. At least most of them were, for Slytherin House they had become targets for snide comments, rude hand gestures and sneering looks.

Snape, who had seemed to take the loss personally, kicked everyone off of the team and held the Quidditch tryouts himself for the new members. A heavyset boy who looked far older then his fellow fourth years captained the new Slytherin team, the members of which were extremely smug and arrogant due to the fact that Snape had picked them personally.

Charlie, the Gryffindor captain, was grudgingly impressed with the new team.

"I only managed to catch a glimpse of them practicing before Snape shooed me away," he said at dinner, "but they looked much better then the old lot."

"What do you know about the captain?" asked Miro who, since Fred and George's commentary, had to put up with the fact that the rest of the team now referred to him as Snorer.

"Marcus Flint?" shrugged Charlie taking a large gulp from his goblet, "not much, I think he use to be one of the reserve Beaters but switched to Chaser for the tryouts. He can fly pretty well from what I got to see."

"I think that's about the only thing he can do. My brother is in his year," explained Miro as Fred lent across him to grab the salt, "says he only just scrapped through last years exams, almost got held back a year but a strong Potions' grade got him through."

"Hmmm, Snape playing favourites?" questioned George helping himself to another slice of sponge cake, "it's so unlike him. Next thing you know McGonagall will start being strict and Percy will become uptight."

"Er…how come you two are eating so much?" asked Charlie, George had begun devouring his portion of cake with gusto as Fred similarly piled his plate high with apple pie.

"We have detention with Filch after dinner," explained George between mouthfuls.

"And what? You intend to be sick on him?"

"No Charlie, we need to keep our strength up," Fred took a large bite, "something tells me he won't be happy just giving us lines."

"That's true," agreed Miro, "I had detention with him once, ended up having to clean the toilets in the Prefects Bathroom by hand."

"Could be worse," said George scraping the last remains of the cake into his mouth.

"He could have made you use your tongue," Fred finished, as he lent back in his chair.

The twins finished loading their bodies with food and headed off to Filch's office. When they arrived he was sitting on his hair, stroking Mrs Norris softly, with a look of smug contentment on his face.

"Well well well," he sneered, "you two will probably end up having you own cabinet let alone your own files."

"Oh, well you know what it's like Mr Filch," said Fred cheerily.

"You've got to have goals to aim for," joined in George.

"We'll see if you are a lively after tonight," snorted Filch dropping his cat onto the table.

"Why?" asked Fred looking casually around the room, his gaze momentarily falling onto the kettle on the stove, "what have you got us down for? Nothing too strenuous I hope, it's been a long day."

"Well it's about to get even longer," Filch stepped up from behind his desk and pushed passed the twins into the corridor, "follow me."

George fell into line behind Filch, but Fred hung back in the room. Putting his hand into his pocket he felt the cool glass of the vial of Forgetfulness Potion. His hand closed around it as he approached the kettle. He started to pull his hand out of his pocket but his arm was suddenly grasped and he was pulled sharply from the room.

"No dawdling," spat Filch as he pushed Fred ahead of him. George raised an eyebrow inquisitively but his brother just shook his head before the two of them were frog marched down the hall.

They didn't stop until they reach one of the larger classrooms.

"In 'ere," order Filch gruffly.

Fred turned the handle, pushed the door open and entered the room, which for some reason was full of suits of armour.

"Down the front."

At the front of the room, on the teacher's desk, were several large bottles and a number of squares of cloth.

"Mrs Muggin's Extra Strength Metal Polish," George read aloud, taking a closer look at one of the bottles.

"We're cleaning all of these?" asked Fred waving a hand around the room, "by hand?"

"That'll take most of the evening," complained George counting the suits of armour.

"Actually it'll take all night," corrected Filch giving a slimy smile, "once the suits of armour found out a good clean was on offer they all volunteered for it, this is just the first batch."

The work was slow and hard, each suit of armour had to be clean, polished and then buffed so that they gleamed. Filch was right about the suits, as each one came forward to be cleaned it would turn left and right so the twins could reach every spot on the armour, they would even lift their arms and then shake in what Fred and George assumed was a ticklish giggling fit when the brothers rub them with the cloth.

Every now and then Filch would open and stick his head around the door to check on their progress. Fred suspected that the only reason he was doing this was so that he could watch them feeling down and miserable as they carried out their work, as such every time the door would open both of them would break into song or laughter to pretend they were enjoying it and more often then not they would be rewarded with a disappointed expression on Filch's face.

"I can't believe they call this punishment," said George cheerily, Filch's head disappearingback behind the door as he slammed it shut.

"Oh God," Fred dropped his cloth and used one hand to try and massage some life back into his shoulders, "I'm going to ache all over tomorrow."

"This is worse then when mum made us clean the house top to bottom," signed George slumping back into a seat.

"I know, at least that time we got snacks."

Finally, long after it got dark and the stream of suits of armour had stopped filtering into the room, the twins were finished. Fred ran the back of his hand across his forehead wiping away the glistening sweat that had built up on it.

"Grab the cleaning things and follow me," sneered Filch at the two exhausted boys from the open door of the classroom.

"They can't expect us to do any more can they?" whispered George as they trudged duly up the line of desks.

Luckily George was right, they turned down the corridor and follow Filch to the familiar surroundings of his cramped office. Mrs Norris, who was already curled up on the desk, opened her eyes and stared up warily at the two twins.

"Put them in there," he pointed gruffly to a box in the corner, before sitting down behind his desk and opening Fred's file.

The brothers dumped the bottles and clothes into the box, and stood waiting patiently for Filch to finish. After scribbling on Fred's file he moved onto George's, aware that the brothers were expectantly standing in front of him he made a point of writing extremely slowly, carefully sculpting each letter of every word before finally completing his entry.

"Discipline," nodded Filch folding his arms, "order, routine. That's what you need. Take me for example; I start my day the same way every morning. I get up at six every morning, feed Mrs Norris, drink a nice large cup of tea and then off on my duties. It's never done me any harm. Discipline, order, routine."

"That's very useful to know," pointed out George brightly.

"It is?" replied Filch sceptically, "I mean yes, it is."

"Of course it is Mr Filch," George carried on, much to the amazement of both his brother and Filch, "I mean of all the teachers here we've probably learnt the most from you."

"Oh well," flustered Filch taken aback, "I don't think you could really call me a teacher…"

"Nonsense," dismissed George waving his hand, "you teach us discipline, order and routine."

"Yeah," nodded Filch getting caught up, "I do, don't I? I mean you can't learn any of that reading a book or waving a wand around can you?"

"Certainly not," agreed George enthusiastically, "I mean the dedication you have to your job is amazing, look at those chains. They are absolutely gleaming," he walked over to some chains hanging on the wall next to the stove. Fred had a look of complete confusion on his face until he caught a glimpse of the Forgetfulness Potion held tightly in his brother's hand.

"And what about these ones?" asked Fred feigning interest as he realised what George was up to, "are they medieval?"

"These ones?" Filch pointed behind him as Fred stepped forward to have a closer look, he got up so he show them off closely, "I can see why you'd think that. These were actually made in France last year by a very good blacksmith, medieval style. I'd always wanted them so I thought I'd treat myself."

WhileFilch was preoccupied with Fred, George took the opportunity to dump the contents of the potion into the kettle. Swiftly pocketing the empty vial George gave his brother a thumb up signal.

"Now these ones were given to me by my father…what are you grinning at?" asked Filch catching Fred's smile at his brother. He looked between the twins, trying to read their expressions, "oh I get it, try and humour Filch eh? Think I'll be lenient on you if you weasel your ways into my good book?Well I know your game; you aren't going to get around me like that. Get out!"

The brothers promptly waved their goodbyes to Filch, and broke into laughter as they walked down the corridor.

"So how much did you give him?" asked Fred

"All of it," replied George showing his brother the empty bottle.

"How long will it last?"

"Well considering what happened to Lee and the small amount he drunk," George said frowning with concentration, "Filch should be affected for about… a week I guess. Assuming he drinks it all of course."

"Nice," admitted Fred, "the only bad side is that we are going to have to get up at six in the morning so we can feed Filch the story."

"Hmmm… so they have a six o'clock in the morning as well, when did that happen?"

The brothers crept into their dark dormitory, which was already echoing with the resounding snores of Lee and the other two Gryffindor boys, remembering to set the alarm clock; they both fell into an exhausted sleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

Fred shot up in bed, his hand flopping along the top of his side cabinet as he fumbled for his wand to repel whatever was trying to attack him. He couldn't find his wand so instead he tried to slap away his assailant who was prodding him in the shoulder.

"Fred?" George punched him roughly on the arm making him finally open his eyes, he held up the alarm clock showing him the time, "Filch, remember?"

"Ugh," groaned Fred as he dragged himself out of bed and put on his clothes, "this had so better be worth it."

The brothers made their way slowly down the stairs, yawning all the way, the bright sunlight filtered in through the castle windows, as the early morning bird song was all the noise that filled the air.

"Stupid birds," Fred sniped groggily, "being all loud and cheerful in the morning."

They crept their way along the corridor to Filch's office. They stopped outside and Fred silently pressed his ear to the door. George raised his eyebrows inquisitively but his brother just shrugged and shook his head. With bated breath they turned the handle and pushed open the door.

"Oh hello," said Filch grinning, not his usual malevolent sneer, but with a friendly looking smile, which was a bit unnerving in itself. In front of him was an empty mug.

"Hi Mr Filch," said George raising his hand in acknowledgement.

"Who's that?" asked Filch looking back around him.

"That's you," replied Fred, pointing at the caretaker to empathise this.

"Filch…Filch," he said quietly to himself as he tried out the sound of his own name, "and what's my first name?"

"Er…" Fred looked over at his brother who gave him a very helpful shrug of the shoulders, "…Norman."

"Norman Filch? And what is it I do?"

"You're the caretaker of the school," George waved his hand around the room, indicating all the brooms and cleaning equipment in Filch's office.

"I'm in a school?" beamed Filch looking around, "marvellous. But why are their chains on the wall?"

"Oh that's easy," said Fred stalling, "there is a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why there are chains and manacles up in the caretaker's office…"

"It's because the old caretaker was mean," George joined in taking up the slack from his brother's unfinished sentence, "and you're only new so you haven't had a chance to redecorate yet."

"Nice one," congratulated Fred, then he realised that Filch was looking at him, "I mean, yes that's the reason they are up there."

"Oh, so would I normally need to use them?" asked Filch in a concerned voice.

"Not you Mr Filch," explained George, "that old caretaker was really mean and none of the students liked him."

"Yeah," affirmed Fred, "but you're different, you're really nice all the students love you."

"They do?"

"Definitely, I mean only the other day I was saying to Fred here, that Mr Filch is one of the best things about this school. Always helping the students get to class on time, carrying our heavy bags if we need it or even just finding time to join in a game of Exploding Snap."

"Really?"

"Absolutely Mr Filch," nodded Fred in agreement, "you're always happily singing away as you clean, and there isn't a single thing you wouldn't do for the pupils here. It's why you are so well liked."

"Ahh well," gushed Filch, "it doesn't hurt to be nice."

"I know, you say that all the time," explained Fred, "I mean it's practically your motto."

The door to the office was pushed slightly further open as Mrs Norris slinked into the room carrying a dead mouse in its mouth. She starred up unblinkingly at the two brothers.

"Is that my cat?" asked Filch excitedly.

"No," admitted George, "that's just the school cat, unfortunately you are very allergic to cat hairs so you really shouldn't go near it."

"Oh," said Filch looking a bit disappointed before standing up and grabbing a nearby broom, which he began to brandish at Mrs Norris, "lucky you told me, shoo cat shoo."

As a rather confused Mrs Norris was steadily ushered out of the room, Filch turned to the two brothers with a slightly worried look on his face.

"I know this is going to sound odd," he whispered, "but I honestly can't remember anything. I mean if you hadn't turned up when you did I probably wouldn't even know my own name."

"That's ok Mr Filch," consoled Fred, "we are quite use to it."

"You are?"

"Yep," Fred placed a reassuring hand on Filch's shoulder, "you see, the thing is you suffer from short term memory loss."

"I do?"

"Yes, don't you remember?Well of course you don't. It seems to happen every Friday morning. Anyway only George and I know about it and we've been keeping it a secret for you."

"Well that's nice of you, but why keep it a secret?"

"Because if any of the teachers found out you'd be sacked," explained George, "so each week Fred and I come down early to see if you are ok and if you need to be brought up to speed on things."

"That's very nice of you," said Filch thankfully.

"Well we'd do anything for our favourite member of staff," claimed Fred unashamedly, "anyway we should probably go and have a nice early breakfast, and you have yourself a good day now."

"And you too," said Filch shaking each of the twin's hand, "oh I completely forgot to ask, who are you?"

"I'm Fred Weasley and this is my brother George," replied Fred slapping his hand on his brother's back.

"I know those names," frowned Filch as he tried to remember, "they were on some files. Here they are on the desk, do they belong to you?"

"Thanks for finding them Mr Filch," said George, gingerly taking the files, "Fred and I have been looking all over for them."

"Glad to have been of help," Filch waved them out of the door, "drop by anytime."

"I think I quite like the new Mr Filch," admitted George as they wandered back down the corridor, the sound of Filch singing to himself echoing back up the passageway.

"Yeah me too," agreed Fred reading intently from his file, "hey George, what does delinquent mean?"


	9. Overdue

"Here, is there something you guys need to tell me?" asked Lee and he eased himself into the seat opposite the twins.

"Yeah," replied George as he shovelled another fork load of food into his mouth, "try the sausages they are really good this morning."

"Thanks for the recommendation," Lee began piling his plate with a choice range of food, "but what I was actually thinking about was more to do with Filch?"

"Filch?" Fred tried to convey a look of innocence, which wasn't the easiest thing for him to do at the best of times but certainly not when he had a mouth full of toast, "what makes you think we did anything to him?"

"Well I started to think you had done something when he wished me good morning as I passed him on the stairs," Lee poured himself out a large drink of orange juice, "my suspicion increased further when he offered to help one of the Ravenclaws with their heavy pile of books.And then I was finally convinced when I heard him singing away to himself."

"Ahh," George nodded to himself, "well we may have added something extra to his morning cup of tea."

"I knew it," Lee said raised voice, punching the air, causing a group of Ravenclaws sitting opposite to frown and stare at him, he lowered his voice, "how much did you give him?"

"All of it," shrugged Fred, "in for a Sickle in for a Galleon."

"Brilliant," smiled Lee a looked of awe on his face, "and the best part is, when it wears off he won't remember any of it."

"Well we have you to thank for that little bit of knowledge," admitted George giving a nod of acknowledgement.

"True, although there was a price involved," replied Lee solemnly shaking his head.

"Yeah sorry about that," apologised Fred, "we did our best with the commentary, we never thought that McGonagall would decide to supervise you from now on."

"Ahh its ok, from what people have told me I doubt I'd be able to offend anyone as much as you two did."

Angelina, Alicia and the rest of their House year soon joined the three boys, so they decided to hold off talking about Filch for the time being. As the Great Hall slowly filled up for the breakfast the room was presently overflowing with the sound of general chatter and the scrape of cutlery on the plates.

"We're gonna grab our bags," explained Fred to Lee as the twins rose from their seat.

"We'll see you in History of Magic."

"No problem guys."

Settling down in their desks Fred and George got ready for possibly their favourite lesson. Not everyone enjoyed the monotonous tones of Professor Binns, the only ghost teacher at Hogwarts, but the twins loved the opportunity to relax and quietly chat to each other. Binns hadn't let the fact that he was dead stop him from teaching so the trivial matter of students not paying attention wouldn't even cause him to bat an eyelid, although being dead he didn't really have an eyelid to bat anyway.

As Binns droned on about the history of the school most of the class were either sitting with vacant expressions and slowly flicking through copies of Hogwarts: A History that had been made available from the library. Fred and George however were bringing Lee up to speed on their early conversation with Filch.

"You told him he was allergic to Mrs Norris? I think I feel bad for her," Lee then shook himself as he realised what he was saying, "actually forget I said that, that cat deserves everything she gets."

"Did you hear him singing?" asked Fred.

"Yeah and I thought Bill had a bad voice," agreed George, "I had to do a double-take to make sure that Filch wasn't swinging Mrs Norris around in a bag."

"Hmmm… now that's an interesting thought," smiled Fred as he flicked absentmindedly through a few pages in his book.

"We couldn't do that," scolded George, "we don't have a bag."

"Here look at this," Fred stared intently down at his book.

George and Lee leaned in close and started reading the passage that Fred had been pointing to.

… _at which time Fenter Prevend, also know as Fenter the Uncanny, was rumoured to have hidden what was said to have been his greatest treasure somewhere in the grounds of Hogwarts. Despite numerous searches of the grounds as yet nothing has been unearthed. Fenter is widely recognised as the greatest treasure hunter in Wizarding history, his amazing ability to find hidden catacombs as well as avoid deadly traps and curses resulted in his given nickname as well as a plaque of remembrance in Gringott's Bank…_

"It just goes on more about his background," explained Fred skimming his eyes over the page, "so what do you think?"

"I think that you obviously didn't read the part where it said that there have already been numerous searches of the grounds," Lee shook his head, "if there was anything like that around someone would have found it by now, don't you think George?"

Rather then nodding in agreement George had a calculated look in his eye.

"It's possible that it's just really well hidden."

"Please," Lee rolled his eyes and tapped his finger on the date given by the book, "it's been well over two hundred years since it was suppose to have happened. I doubt there is anything left to find in this school."

"Not necessarily," explained Fred casting a sidelong look at Lee, "it said that he had an uncanny ability to find hidden treasure that no one else could. Maybe he used those skills to hide his greatest treasure and that's why no one could find it, cos no one has been as good as him at it."

"Until now," smiled George.

"Ok fine," conceded Lee holding his hands up in defeat, "where are you going to look first?"

"Er…"

"Exactly," Lee folded his arms with a look of triumph on his face, "this school is huge, and you don't even have a clue where to start."

"I've got it, we'll start in the Library," Fred scratched his chin thoughtfully, "there must be something in there in about Fenter Prevend."

"Yes I think I recall his autobiography; Fenter Prevend – I hid it behind Greenhouse One," Lee said sarcastically.

"You're gonna look so stupid if we find that book."

"Ok guys count me in," Lee said smirking, "but if it turns out I'm right I'm allowed to say I told you so."

"Fair enough and if it turns out we are right then…well who cares we'll all be rich."

The three boys spent the rest of the lesson planning on ways they would spend the treasure, each time getting more and more extravagant as images of gold and jewels flashed in through their heads. By the end of the class they had decided to use the money to buy the school, sack Snape and disband Slytherin House altogether, as well as purchasing the Chudley Cannons Quidditch Team with the left overs.

After their daily classes were over they piled into the Library, barging past a very surprised looking Percy. As they stood in the middle of library looking around at all the different books Lee raised a very good point.

"Actually I have no idea where we would start" admitted Fred his previous enthusiasm somewhat deflated.

"Shall we ask Madam Pince?" suggested George.

"Well volunteered brother," congratulated Fred patting him on the shoulder, "off you go."

"Fine," grumbled George shaking his head as he wandered off to try and find the intimidating librarian.

Lee and Fred stayed where they were chatting casually about Quidditch while they waited for George to return. When he did come back he was going at a much faster pace then Fred would have thought necessary.

"We have to get out of here," he said urgently.

"Why?" asked Lee.

"Well it seems that Madam Pince was doing a spot check in the restricted section,"

"So?"

"Er… she's found a book that has gone missing and to say she isn't happy about it is a bit of an understatement."

"I'm assuming the book in question is currently nestled safely up in our dormitories?" Fred asked.

"You'd be assuming correctly George. She's muttering about using some kind of locator spell to find the book."

"We're dead if she finds it in our room."

"Very true Lee, so you're saying we should hide it under Percy's bed instead?"

"Er… no George. I was thinking that we just go an get it and put it back on any old shelf, then when she does the spell she'll find it already in the Library."

"Good idea," congratulated Fred, "I'll go and grab the book, you two try and stall her."

Fred raced out of the Library, once again almost barrelling into Percy as he passed him.

"Sorry Perce," he called over his shoulder as he sprinted up the stairs to Gryffindor House and into the first years' room. Scooting down on to his knees, he reached under the bed desperately feeling for the leather of the book. He gave out an audible sigh of relief as his hand closed around it.

Picking up the bulky book he stuffed it into his school bag, which he then threw over one arm, and flew back out of the room. He raced down the stairs, through the Common Room and practically dived out through the portrait opening, much to the surprise of Lee and George who were just about to enter through it.

"Seriously," groaned Lee from the ground having been knocked over by Fred, "I think hanging out with you two is bad for my health."

"Ow," said Fred rubbing his elbow that had smacked off the floor when he fell, "sorry guys, but didn't see you there until it was too late."

"No problem," replied George getting to his feet before helping the other two up, "to be fair it was our own fault for…no wait it was entirely your fault."

"Yeah I know, I said I'm sorry didn't I?" Fred reached down, grabbed his back and went to make his way down to the library before a sudden realisation struck him, "er… shouldn't you two be distracting Pince?"

"We were going to," explained Lee "but she kicked everyone out and closed the Library until further notice, while she checked to see if any other books were missing."

"Can she do that?"

"The mood she is in I doubt even Dumbledore would be brave enough to stop her," George pointed out, "she's a bit obsessive about books."

"So we're dead basically?"

"Nope we have a small glimmer of hope. She's only just starting to search the Library, there are thousands of books in there, so there is no way she'd get it finished tonight. We just bring the book down when everyone has gone to sleep and Bob's your uncle."

"We don't have an uncle Bob do we?"

"But what if she does that locator spell in the mean time?" asked Lee worriedly.

"I mean there's uncle Bilius, Enoch and Ambrose on dad's side."

"Well Lee, the reason why I think we are safe there, is that Pinch seems a very organised woman. I think she would probably try to work out just how many missing books there are before she goes looking for them."

"Now I think cousin Byron had a son called Robert, but then that would only make him our second cousin."

"Have you finished being an idiot yet Fred?" George asked, hands on hips, as he glared at his twin.

"Actually I had a bit more but you go ahead with what you were saying."

"Er…I just said it," George said frowning, "we sneak into the Library when every one is asleep. You obviously weren't listening. Come on, we'll just go and relax until the coast is clear."

"Yeah, maybe I'll sketch out our family tree and work out who this Bob is you keep referring too."

The evening passed by slowly as the three boys continually checked the clock, they played a few rounds of Wizards Chess, the odd hand of Exploding Snap and the newly invented game of Let's See Who Can Levitate Things Down The Back Of Percy's Neck Without Him Noticing.

"Honestly would you two just grow up," Percy snapped as he pulled a grape out from under his collar, flung it at the Fred and stomped off to his room leaving the three boys and Charlie as the only sole occupants of the Common Room.

"Well that's one down, any idea's how we get rid of Charlie?" whispered Lee.

"Nope," admitted Fred, "over the years he has built up a bit of a resistance to our behaviour."

"Hmm you know I think I have an idea," George had a very thoughtful expression on his face.

"No doubt a smart and cunning one."

"Absolutely Fred," nodded George before turning around "hey Charlie, we're gonna go and sneak off around the castle ok?"

"No problem George," replied Charlie casually as the turned a page of his book, "just don't get caught."

"We promise we won't get caught," said George placing his hand over his heart, "you know us Charlie."

"You're right I do," admitted Charlie looking up from his reading, "don't blow anything up either."

"Can't promise that I'm afraid," replied Fred standing up and grabbing his bag, "but we'll do our best."

"I quite like the school at night," said Lee as they stepped through the portal and looked up and down the empty corridor.

"I know what you mean," agreed Fred, "it's like it's a whole different world."

"Actually I just meant that there aren't any classes at night. Well except for Astronomy but that doesn't really count as I tend to fall asleep," confessed Lee as the boys made their way to the Library.

They crept slowly up to the large wooden doors, carefully looking around them all the time; Fred wrapped his fingers around the handle and pushed it down. Nothing happened. He pushed against the door harder but it didn't budge.

"Damn," he swore in a hushed whisper, "she's locked it, it's like she doesn't trust us or something."

"Hang on there is a spell for unlocking doors," George screwed up his face tightly as he tried to recall it, "it was in the standard book of spells…hang on…" he pulled his wand from his pocket and aimed it at the lock, "Alley Home Aura…no that wasn't it. Hello Laura… Hell On A More Hair… look just bloody open will you."

"Ahem… did it work?" Lee tried to ask innocently but completely failed to hide his grin.

"Maybe we could you know," George nodded his head at the door, "give it a nice hard shove."

"You mean break it down? This door?" Fred slapped his hand against the wood, "it's solid oak, we'd break our arms. Now it would have been a good idea if we were trying to get into the Hospital Wing."

"So how the hell are we suppose to get in there?" George asked scratching his head.

"Shh," Lee waved his hand at the two twins, "I think someone is coming."

Lee was right, there was a flicker of light appearing from around the corner, but because the three had been so preoccupied with trying to get into the Library they hadn't noticed it until it was too late; there was no place to hide.

"Who's there?"

"Filch?" asked Fred shielding his eyes from the lamp.

"Oh hello," replied Filch lowering the light, "sorry, didn't mean to blind you there."

"No problem," George rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands, "what are you doing up?"

"Well I was talking to one of the other members of staff, the Librarian… oh what was her name?"

"Madam Pince?" ventured Lee.

"That's the one," agreed Filch pointing at Lee, "well she asked me to keep a lookout around the Library in case anyone tried to get in and steal a book," he frowned as though realising for the first time that the boys weren't suppose to be here, "here, you aren't trying to steal one are you?"

"Oh no," Fred shook his head, then reached into his back and opened it showing Filch the potions book inside, "we're actually trying to return a book."

"Ah well that's good of you. A bit late though isn't it?"

"Well we were up late studying and completely forgot the time," explained George, "so we thought we'd sneak down here and return the book so Madam Pince wouldn't miss it."

"But the door's locked," Lee said looking disappointed.

"I have a key," Filch said smiling, pulling it out of his pocket to show the boys, "Madam Pince gave it to me to give the Library one final check. We'll just pop your book back on the shelf."

Filch opened the door and the four of them walked inside into the room. It felt very odd for the three boys to not only be breaking the school rules in front of Filch but for him to also be helping them do it.

"Here," Filch put the lamp down on one of the tables, took the book from Fred, walked over and pushed it up into one of the shelves, "we'll put it up here."

"Cheers Mr Filch," said Lee.

"Yeah nice one," agreed George.

"Filch is that you?" the harsh voice of Madam Pince echoed loudly from the door way, "I heard voices, who else is there?"

"Shh," Fred waved Filch into silence before he could response and pulled him behind one of the stacks, "she can't find us here," he whispered urgently as the other two crowded round.

"Come out whoever it is," demanded Pince, her voice now coming from within the Library itself, "students aren't allowed out at this time of night."

"This way," whispered George leading the troop down the corridor of books, him first, then Fred, then Lee and finally Filch creeping along bringing up the rear.

"There isn't any point in pretending you aren't here," Pince's voice carried loudly over the top of the shelves, "you left your lamp behind."

"Damn, what are we going to do?" Lee asked urgently as the four of them huddled together.

"We'll have to try and circle around her," explained Fred, "just like we did…er that other time," he subtlety nodded at Filch when he said this.

"It's not going to be easy," whispered George chancing a quick look to see if he could spot Pince, the light from her wand showed that she was slowly approaching them, "we'll need to distract her some how."

"How?" asked Lee, the sound of Pince's steps stopped as though she was trying to listen out for any sound.

"I have an idea," whispered Filch before standing up straight and walking back down towards where the Librarian was and calling out loudly, "only me Madam Pince, I thought I heard something down there but it was a false alarm."

"Oh that's quite ok Mr Filch," came Pince's apologetic voice, "I thought it might have been students running riot…"

Their conversation grew fainter and fainter as the three boys slowly and quietly made their way back around to the exit, stepping out into the hallway they finally all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Saved by Filch," George said shaking his head in amazement, "I'd never thought I'd ever say that."

"Me either," agreed Fred.

"Or me," chipped in Lee.

"Or me," said the icy cool voice of Snape.


	10. Back to his old self

The three boys slowly turned around as though their entire beings were questioning what their ears had told them. Sadly their eyes confirmed the fact that Snape was standing arms folded behind them with a smug sneer plastered across his face as the colour drained from them.

"Oh hello Professor," Fred said casually as if bumping into him outside the library at night was an entirely natural thing.

"Imagine my surprise," Snape said, completely ignoring Fred's greeting, "when after taking Bickstaff to the hospital wing to the Hospital Wing last week I returned to find that there had been some unwanted visitors in my office and that my personal supply of Jobberknoll feathers had somewhat diminished."

His eyes swept over all three boys' faces, the twins, well used to facing interrogation at home by their mother, kept an impassive, almost confused expression plastered across their faces. Lee however let a brief look of panic flicker across his face before he managed to get it under control; Snape had looked away at this point so if he had noticed it he didn't let on.

"Of course Jobberknoll feathers are used in many potions so it was nigh on impossible to work out who took it," continued Snape in his soft calm voice, "that was until this morning when I witnessed Mr Filch offering an uncharacteristic but hearty good morning to each and every student that passed him."

He paused to coolly pick a speck of dust off the shoulder of his robe, which he examined intently before rubbing his fingers together. The boys, having decided that silence was the best option remained still, quietly waited forSnape to continue.

"After speaking to Mr Filch, it became obvious that something was amiss. He couldn't in fact remember a single thing about himself, not even his real name,"Snape stared accusingly at the twins when he said this, before either of them could respond he carried on, "the only potion that could cause such an effect and that requires the use of Jobberknoll feathers is the Complex Forgetfulness Potion. A potion, that I recall, you," his eyes bored into George at this point "were quite interested in."

The looks of complete innocence and confusion about the wholesituation remained etched on the three boys' faces Snape gazed intently at them each scrutinizing every aspect of their beings.

"Now since a Mind Trick Spell is much more effective the Complex Forgetfulness Potion is very rarely used and as such is found in one, and only one, book; Moste Potente Potions. I spoke with Madam Pince to see who the last person was to take that book out and do you know that when she went to check she found that the book had been stolen from the library?"

Collective silence reigned supreme once again amongst the boys.

"Of course it came down to the simple matter of discovering who took the book, thusly uncovering who stole the Jobberknoll feathers, and that brings me to you three," he broke into a cold unfeeling smile.

"Sorry to disappoint you Sir," stated Fred giving a shrug.

"But we haven't got a clue what you are talking about," finished George with an equally perplexed look on his face.

"Really?" Snape raised an eyebrow sceptically before putting his hand into his pocket and pulling out a small battle of clear liquid, "there are ways of checking your story. Of course if you are telling the truth then you have nothing to fear."

"What's that?" asked Lee, his wide eyes transfixed on the bottle in Snape's hand.

"What's that _Sir_?" corrected Snape giving the bottle a slight shake, "this is Veritaserum, a very powerful truth potion."

"And you're going to give it to us?" asked Fred excitedly, which wasn't the kind of reaction that the Potions Master had been expecting.

"Oh that's very kindof you Sir," added George holding out his hand expectantly and smiling.

"No not to give it to you as a present," Snape clarified his eyes narrowing malevolently, "a few sips of this and you'll give me the truth about everything."

"And what if we don't want to take it?" asked Lee trying to sound brave but his voice betrayed him by quivering slightly as Snape's gaze swept over him.

"I could always persuade you," he pointed out, letting his cloak billow open slightly so that the boys could catch a glimpse of his wand, "and believe me that won't be nearly as pleasant as drinking a few drops of this."

"Evening Severus," said a soft calming voice, "out for a midnight stroll?"

Snape's eyes flicked up from Lee, the boys looked over their shoulders, and each one of them a quiet yet audible sigh of relief.

"Headmaster," Snape gave a slight nod of acknowledgement, "I caught these three out of bed after hours."

"Hi Sir," each of the boys mumbled slightly at Dumbledore.

"Gentlemen."

"I also believe that they also stole from my private stores whilst unattended and used it to make a Complex Forgetfulness Potion, the instructions of which are only found in one book, which was also stolen. They then used this potion on Mr Filch."

"Sneaking out and exploring the castle at night is something students have done for centuries," replied Dumbledore placing a hand on George's shoulder, "and as teachers we try to discourage this as much as we can. But theft and poisoning are serious offences indeed, you no doubt have proof of these acts?"

"Not at present," admitted Snape slowly, feeling the moment slipping from his control, "but with a few drops of this it will all become clear."

"Unfortunately I cannot permit that Severus, as you know the use of Veritaserum is very strictly regulated and even then it is only used in the most extreme cases. I doubt these boys could be capable of anything that would ever warrant it's use," Dumbledore's twinkling eyes looked meaningfully at the bottle in Snape's hand, "if all you have is suspicion and no real evidence then I am afraid that I cannot attribute blame to these boys. Innocent until proven otherwise."

"But what about Mr Filch?" snapped Snape, "and there was a book missing from the Library."

"The Library is a big place," explained Dumbledore opening his hands wide, "I mean on occasion I myself have managed to lose my way in there, I'm sure the book will turn up once Madam Pince conducts a thorough search. As for Argus, from what I understand is that he appears much happier and more pleasant then usual, no doubt he is getting into the Christmas spirit early."

"So they are just going to get off with flouting the rules?" argued Snape barely containing his contempt.

"No Severus," replied Dumbledore much to the disappointment of the boys, "I shall inform Professor McGonagall of tonight's escapades in the morning and she will no doubt punished the boys' youthful exuberance. Now if you will excuse me, it is getting late, and I shall escort them back to their House. Severus."

"Headmaster," Snape replied matching the Headmaster's nod of goodbye, before turning briskly and storming away down the corridor.

The boys duly followed Dumbledore towards Gryffindor House since he wasn't speaking as he walked Lee and the twins matched him and the four of them made for a silent procession passing along the corridors. Fred glanced over at his brother and frowned slightly, confused as to whether or not they were going to get into trouble. George, equally unsure, just gave a non-committal shrug.

Soon they had reached their destination, standing in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, Dumbledore turned to the boys and addressed them.

"Firstly to the matter in hand," he said solemnly, "as you are already aware I am sure, it is against school rules to wander about the school at night unsupervised. This rule is generally for the student's safety although in your cases I'm pretty sure it is more for the school benefit," he added smiling.

"Professor McGonagall," he continued, "will be told about your indiscretion and it will be up to her to set the punishment. In regards to the theft and poisoning allegations, as I said to Professor Snape, since there is no proof that you have committed these things then you cannot be punished for them. However," he raised his hand and leaned forward as each of the boys broke into a relieved grin, "please understand that the school takes a dim view on such behaviour and that anyone caught doing either will be most severely dealt with."

Dumbledore pulled out a large gold watch from his pocket and examined the time, "now if you will kindly excuse me," he said shutting it with a snap, "Mr Filch and I have arranged to listen to some music together after he finished his nightly patrol. He has a most wonderful singing voice that I had never been aware of before," his eyes sparkled behind his glasses, "goodnight gentlemen."

"Goodnight Headmaster," they replied before trudging through the portal.

The boys plodded into the Common Room silently, Charlie looked up from his book, "did you get caught?"

"Yep," replied Fred as the other two nodded to confirm this.

"Did you blow anything up?"

"Nope."

"Well one out of two ain't bad," said Charlie.

The next day things slowly went from bad to worse First Professor McGonagall approached them in the middle of breakfast, thin lipped and shaking with annoyance. People around the three boys tried to hide their smirks as they were each given double detention as well as taking twenty points each from them (at this point their fellow Gryffindors stopped smiling). Then they had to put up with the unnerving and dark looks that Snape kept giving them whenever he passed them in the corridors. But the worst came shortly after lunch as a pair of rather full twins wandered out of the Great Hall with the rest of their fellow students.

As they headed outside into the sunlight the twins were chatting animatedly to themselves and weren't really paying much attention to where they were going so almost ended up barreling into Filch in the entrance way.

"Oh hello Mr Filch," greeted Fred cheerily.

"You!" Filch pointed an accusing finger at the twins, "don't you 'hello Mr Filch' me."

"Er…ok," agreed Fred looking uncertainly at his brother.

"Professor Snape told me what you two did and the fact that the Headmaster won't punish you for it," spat Filch looking absolutely disgusted, "but I'll make you pay for what you have done to me."

"And what is it that we are suppose to have done?" asked a wide-eyed angelic George.

"Done? Done!" snarled Filch, "you tricked me into drinking a potion and then told me lies to make me nice to people."

"Now Mr Filch," said Fred placing his hands on his hips, "how could we trick you into drinking a potion? I mean you are far to clever to fall for something like that from a student."

"Er…" Filch stopped mouth open as he seemed to think aloud to himself, "well I've got to admit that it doesn't sound like something I'd do," his confused expression then turned hard once again as he rounded on the twins, "but then why did Professor Snape tell me all that stuff about me acting stupid?"

"Isn't it obvious?" asked George amazed, "he's jealous?"

"Why would he be jealous of me?" queried Filch before he could stop himself.

"It's because you are the most feared member of staff," whispered George carefully looking around.

"I am?" asked Filch in a confused voice before rallying himself, "I mean I am aren't I? It's all down to discipline isn't it? I said that from the start, and no one'sbetter at discipline then me."

Filch puffed his chest out in a self important way, looked at his reflection in a suit of armour and tried to press down some rogue strands of hair on his head. His brief moment of narcissism came to an abrupt end when his cynical mind raised a very good point.

"Wait a minute," he ordered, "why on earth should I believe you two? Ever since you started here you've been nothing but trouble."

"Oh that's because we were so undisciplined," explained Fred.

"Yep," agreed George wholeheartedly, "I mean our parents were soft on us, let us run wild and all sorts."

"But it took a firm hand, a tough line, routine and order to get us into shape, and that's all down to you."

"Well it's like I have always said…" Filch's voice trailed off as he had a look of realisation dawning on his face which gradually changed into a look of fury, "hold on, you were doing this the other night, I remember now. You were flattering me, trying to weasel out of being punished. Well it didn't work then and it ain't gonna work now you hear? I'm going to be keeping a very close eye on the two of you, and when you slip up, and you _will _slip up, I'll be right their to catch you."

The retreating Filch stomped away angrily pausing to berate a young Ravenclaw who had the misfortune to be trailing mud into the school at the time the caretaker was passing.

"The thing is," George frowned, "we gave him enough to last at least a week, why is he back to normal? Well normal for Filch anyway."

"You know I think Snape might have had something to do with it," concluded Fred, "I bet he gave him an antidote first thing this morning."

"Damned Snape, what did we ever do to him?"

"Yeah just because we snuck into his office, stole some supplies, possibly offended him during the Quidditch match," Fred counted them off on his fingers, "did I miss anything out?"

"Nope that sounds about right," admitted Fred nodding.

"I miss Norman," admitted George as the twins stepped out into the brisk autumn weather.


	11. Now you see me

Filch was unbearably true to his word over the next few weeks. Everywhere the twins went either the caretaker or his cat Mrs Norris would be lurking by just ready to catch them in some act of rule breaking. It became a sort of game at first, Fred or George would try to see who could spot Filch or his cat before the other one, but, as the evenings closed in, the snow covered the grounds and the list for those staying at Hogwarts over Christmas came around, the twins became tired of the constant monitoring. Soon the only time that they could really be their usual selves was when they were holed up in Gryffindor Tower.

There is one thing above all else in the world that the Weasley family has come to fear, it isn't a monster, or a curse or even Voldemort himself, it is actually a single sentence. The words of this sentence are spoken everyday, by everyone at some point in their lives, but it is only when it is uttered by one of two people that this sentence transforms from being ordinary and harmless into something much more dangerous. The two people in question are the Weasley twins, and the sentence is…

"God I'm so bored," sighed Fred as he warmed his hands in front of the fire in the Common Room.

"I know," added George slouching back in an armchair.

"The stupid thing is that he is trying so hard to catch us breaking the rules…"

"…but if he is constantly following us around," continued George as they aired their grievances to Lee, "there is no way we'll get caught cos we aren't stupid enough to do anything wrong in front of him."

"Have you tried losing him?" asked Lee sniffing, as the remains of a cold still lingered in his body.

"Yeah," nodded Fred glumly, "but it's impossible, he knows all these short cuts and secret passages."

"No matter where we go," added George, "or how fast we get there, he's always a few seconds behind us wheezing like a maniac."

"On the bright side," Lee smiled leaning back in the cosy armchair, "with Filch and Mrs Norris constantly harassing you two, the rest of us are having a wonderful trouble free time."

"I'm so glad our suffering amuses you," Fred replied sarcastically as he turned around to warm his legs.

"It could be worse," pointed out Lee, taking one of Mrs Weasley's home made biscuits from a recently unwrappedbox, "at least he hasn't decided to go through your post."

"Hang on," said Fred thoughtfully, as Lee took a large bite, "that's how we can get one over on Filch."

"We're going to give him biscuits?" frowned George, "I'm not sure if you have been keeping up with current events around here Fred but we don't actually like Filch."

"No not the biscuits you idiot, the post."

"We're going to write him a letter of complaint?" asked George sceptically, "sounds more the kind of thing Percy would do."

"No not a letter of complaint," replied Fred cagily, "but I am going to have to write a letter, plus I'm going to need that box in a bit."

"No problem Fred," said Lee taking another biscuit despite the fact that his mouth was still busy chomping away on the last one, "I'm on it."

"So are you going to tell me just how a letter and Lee getting fat is going to help us against Filch?"

"Nope," smiled Fred as the glow of the fire carried on warming him, "it'll be a surprise."

"Fair enough," conceded George, "there is just one thing that seems to have escaped your notice."

"And what's that?" frowned Fred.

"Well," whispered George leaning forward, "I think your scarf is on fire."

After he had stopped trying to run away from the flaming scarf, (which since he was still wearing it naturally followed him around the room and in the end needed Lee and George to throw a jug of water over him to put it out) a rather wet but excited Fred went up to the dormitory to work on his plan, and presumably get into some dry clothes.

Lee and George stayed down in front of the fire, working their way through the biscuits whilst trying to think of what Fred's plan could possibly be.

"Maybe he's going to send Filch something nasty in the post," wondered Lee.

"I doubt it, unless he has a secret stash of dungbombs. We used that last ones to wake Percy up the other day."

"Yeah I remember the shouting. But if he isn't going to send anything why would he need this box?"

"Good point," replied George staring down at the box, which now only housed a few discarded crumbs.

By the time Fred had come back down, the other two had taken to clutching at straws rather then any real intelligent guesses.

"Ok, how about if he leaves a letter on the floor in a corridor?" said Lee voicing his latest attempt, "and when Filch bend's over to look at it we drop the box, which is full of flubberworms, on his head?"

"No offence," replied George shaking his head, "but that does a bit on the ordinary side. We like to save Filch for what I call the Fred and George Experience."

"My thinking exactly brother," commended Fred as he plonked himself into one of the chairs, dropping an envelope onto the table.

"What's that?"

"It's an envelope Lee," explained Fred, "that's how people send letters."

"No you idiot," Lee pointed at a small bottle, filled with light blue liquid, in Fred's hand, "what's that?"

"Ahh this is the cherry on the cake, the handle on the broomstick, the…"

"…idiot in the armchair," added George smirking.

"You won't be smiling when you find out what this is for," Fred scolded waving the bottle in front of his twin, "actually you will be smiling, but not at my expense."

"Fine," George conceded raising his hands in mock surrender, "tell us this great plan of yours."

"You know I don't think I will now, I'll leave it as a surprise. Now if you don't mind," Fred stood up, collected the envelope and place it along with the bottle into his pocket, "we need to find Filch."

Lee looked over at George and gave a shrug before they both followed Fred through the portrait. They walked quickly through the school, Fred flicking his head left and right trying to spot the caretaker, but he was proving to be quite elusive.

"It's weird," Fred said impatiently as they gathered at the bottom of the stairs, "normally he's diving out from behind suits of armour, finger waving ready to catch us doing something. But now when I need him around he is nowhere to be seen."

"That is true," nodded George looking around, "it's not like him to leave us alone."

"Hey I think I see him," whispered Lee leaning in close.

"Where?"

"I think he is hiding behind one of the suits of armour," Lee frowned as if he didn't believe his own eyes, "I think he just disappeared into a wall."

"Oh that's one of those fake walls that's actually a corridor," explained George keeping his voice low, "Charlie says the school is full of short cuts like them."

"Yeah, and Filch knows them all," added Fred, "come on lets get closer."

"Closer? Why would you want to do that?"

"Well Lee," smiled Fred, "it'll be a bit hard for Filch to hear us from over there."

Fred wandered over to the suit of armour, looked around sneakily before beckoning the other two over. When they got to his side he shushed them into silence by waving his hands, he then took great pains to look back over his shoulder as though checking to make sure no one was listening. If he wanted to give the impression to anyone looking at the three boys that they were up to somethinghe was certainly succeeding.

"Look I was talking to Charlie about our problems with Filch," said Fred in a stage whisperthat was easily loud enough for the caretaker to hear.

"Right," replied George still uncertain where this was going.

"And he said," Fred carried on, "that Bill was going to be sending us something by owl this evening."

"He is?"

"Yep, apparently whatever Bill is sending us is just what we need to get around Filch but it'll be bad news for all the students if he gets his hands on it. So we are going to need to be up at the owlery just before dinner at about seven o'clock, it'll mean while Filch is stuffing his face we'll be safe."

Fred looked around suspiciously, "there's too many people here, I'll tell you the rest upstairs," he whispered harshly before heading off up the stairs.

"So are you going to tell us what all that was about?" asked George as he fell into step next to his brother.

"God George," Fred replied shaking his head scornfully, "don't you like surprises? I mean would you sneak a look inside your Christmas presents a day early?"

"Er…yes I would," admitted George unashamedly, "we both do that every year."

"Oh yeah," smiled Fred, "well except last year."

"Why, what happened last year?" asked Lee.

"Mum was waiting up for us," explained George as he waved an acknowledgement to Alicia and Angelina as they passed on the stairs.

"It's like she didn't trust us or something."

Despite much harassment from the other two, Fred just point blankly refused to enlighten them any further as to what he was up to. The contents of both the letter and the bottle of green liquid remained a mystery.

The clock slowly ticked along until it came close to half six when Fred made a bit show of placing the letter in the box along with the bottle, and wrapping it up tight.

"Let's go," said Fred smiling to himself as he tucked the package under his arm.

"Why are we here early?" asked Lee when they reached the owlery breathing warm air into his hands and rubbing them together.

"Because," explained Fred attaching the package onto the leg of a large brown owl, "Filch will be keeping an eye out for any incoming owls. He'll want to make sure that we already have the package delivered before he jumps out on us."

Fred finished tying the box to the owl and gave it the rather unusual instructions of flying out over the forest and then turning around to come back to the school. The owl gave a slight hoot of derision at being given such an unusual task, but spread its wings and took flight in a barrage of flapping.

"Now we just wait," smiled Fred as he leaned against a wall looking at the silhouette of the bird against the moon gradually getting smaller and smaller.

About ten or so minutes later after Lee had given up trying to point out the returning bird and the three boys had disintegrated into idle chitchat. In fact they had become so embroiled in their debate over which was the best Quidditch team ever that they didn't notice the large brown owl returning until it had landed heavily on the wall next to them.

"Damn," swore Lee who had jumped at the sudden appearance of the bird, "can they attach a bell or something on owls so we know when they are about to turn up?"

The owl stood very still as Fred undid the package tied to its leg, once the weight had been removed it flew straight at Lee, causing him to have to duck quickly out of the way, before giving a sharp hoot and returning to it's alcove in the owlery.

"I don't think it like the bell comment," explained George cheerily.

"Brilliant," exclaimed Fred loudly as he tore opening the package and looked at the contents as if he was seeing them for the first time. He passed the bottle over to George and ripped open the envelope, Fred seemed to be counting to himself under his breath.

"Aha! Caught you!"

"…and five," Fred whispered quietly before he turned around to confront a very pleased looking Filch, "oh no it's Mr Filch."

"Damn right it's me," spat Filch advancing on them with a gleam in his eye, "thought you'd get you brothers to help you out eh? Well you didn't reckon on the fact that nothing goes on in this school without me hearing about it, did you?"

"You don't have any proof we have done something wrong," Fred said with just the right amount of indignation in his voice, "we are just getting post from our family."

"Don't make me laugh," sneered Filch, "I overheard you saying your brother was sending you something that'll help you get one over on me. So obviously whatever he sent you must already be banned in the school. Give that here."

He snatched the open letter from Fred's hand and began to read it, trailing a finger along the page.

"Oho," he exclaimed, looking up at the trio he smiled triumphantly and began to read from the letter, "'dear Fred and George, sorry to hear about all the trouble you are having with Filch,' ha! Being whining to your family about me have you," he snarled before reading aloud once again, "'I had an idea that will help you sneak around at night without getting caught. With this letter is a bottle of invisibility potion. One mouthful of this and you'll be invisible for about an hour, which should give you plenty of time to get into trouble. Unfortunately it isn't a very strong potion, and can only make your bodies and a small amount of clothing disappear at a time. But I doubt that the prospect of wandering around in just your underwear is likely to stop you when you can't be seen. Don't worry about the fact that you can still see yourself after you take it, that's just a side effect of it not being that strong. Good luck let me know how it goes. Bill.'"

Filch lowered the parchment and almost swaggered forward and grabbed the bottle of the supposed invisibility potion out of George's hand.

"I'll take that. Here," he thrust the letter back at Fred, "you can send a letter back to your brother and tell him that it'll take more then this to get the better of Argus Filch."

Lee and George matched Fred's look of defeat as a happy Filch strutted away towards the stairs. It wasn't until he had gone out of sight and the sounds of his feet on the steps had died away before they spoke.

"Ok I don't get it," admitted Lee.

"Well Lee, from Mr Filch's point of view, he currently holds in his hand the means to sneak up on any student unawares and thus potentially uncover a whole file cabinet full of rule breaking."

"Right, so what does he really hold in his hand."

"A bottle of water, with some squeezed Perluffera Plant added to turn it green," explained Fred smiling.

"So when he takes a mouthful, he'll think that he has become invisible but in actual fact…"

"…he'll just be a man in his underwear wandering around the school," Fred finished, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.

"No there is one slight flaw that I can see," George piped up, "there isn't any guarantee that Filch will drink the fake potion."

"Yeah I got to admit I did think about that," confessed Fred, "but if you'd care to read the very last part of the letter, I think I had that covered."

George took the letter from his brother's outstretched hand, read it silently over to himself before breaking into a smile.

"'P.S. what ever you do," said George reading the letter out loud for Lee's benefit, "don't let this fall into Filch's hands, can you imagine how bad it would be if he became invisible? Not a single student would ever be able to get away with anything.' Well if there was one way to make sure he'd take it, it was putting that at the end. Inspired."

"Thank you, thank you," Fred gave a little bow as he acknowledge a job well done, "a work of genius, even if I do say so myself."

"Of course it does finally answer one question," pointed out George as they headed towards the steps to join the rest of the school for dinner.

"And what is that dear brother."

"That you are quite clearly the evil twin."


	12. A Very Weasley Christmas

Outside the snow was falling heavily, landing on the already thick blanket of white covering the garden. Occasionally a small bump of snow would appear on the ground and slowly start wandering back and forth before the wind would remove some of it to reveal a rather ugly looking gnome attempting to make it towards the warmth of the Burrow.

The twins were sitting in the kitchen of with their brothers Bill and Charlie. Percy had long since retired to his room to read, and since it was late their parents had ushered Ron and Ginny upstairs too. Mr and Mrs Weasley were sitting in the living room listening to radio, as the four boys were filling up on a nice large bowl of hot soup whilst the twins brought the other two up to speed on their latest confrontation with Filch.

"That's brilliant," Bill exclaimed slapping his hand down on the table, "so I'm assuming you snuck out later that night to be 'caught'".

"That's very astute of you there Bill," replied Fred smirking, "you know, we did decide to take a midnight stroll for no particular reason."

"So there we were sneaking down the hall," George dunked some bread into his soup and took a large bite before continuing, "without a care in the world and suddenly out of nowhere we spot him. Sorry Fred didn't mean to spray you there."

"I'm use to it, you're a messy eater," sighed Fred before taking up the story, "we're in the corridor and sticking his head out of an alcove is non other then Mr Filch, wearing possibly some of the grubbiest underwear I have ever seen."

"And it's cold in the school at night, even during the summer," added George, "so he is there trying to sneak along behind us, while he tries to keep his chattering teeth under control."

"Now if you have never seen an old skinny man in his underwear trying to creep along quietly in the freezing cold, then you have never lived," admitted Fred, "luckily I can now cross it off my list."

"You must feel so privileged," Bill pointed out finishing off his soup.

"Not so much privileged as disturbed."

"You two are something else," the eldest Weasley said shaking his head.

"Oh you didn't hear the best bit," Charlie said pushing his bowl away.

"There's more?"

"Well Fred and I led Filch on a bit of a round trip, he was far to busy looking pleased with himself and sneaking along that he didn't really seem to notice where we were heading."

"Which was?"

"Back to Gryffindor Tower," Fred replied simply.

"What's so good about that?"

"Nothing in particular," admitted George, "but that's because you are missing a vital piece of information."

"And are you going to tell me what it is?"

"Not what it is, who it is," smiled Fred casting a knowing look at Charlie.

"You were there?" asked Bill pointing at Charlie.

"Me, Miro, the rest of the my year," he ticked off each one on his fingers as he went, "the Quidditch team, actually I think probably half of Gryffindor was out there. We even had a banner made, 'nice pants Mr Filch' it said, what it lacked in subtlety it made up for in impact."

"I would have loved to have seen Filch's face when he realised that you could all see him."

"Oh well luckily Miro had a camera," smiled Charlie, "I'll get him to send you a photo."

"And then on top of it all," added George, "because we were all laughing so loud we woke up McGonagall. We only just managed to all bundle back through the Fat Lady when she turned up."

"God, I would have love to have seen McGonagall's face when she caught him wandering the halls in his underwear," laughed Charlie, almost choking on his pumpkin juice.

"Me too," agreed Fred enthusiastically, "whatever she said to him must have been serious, because I don't think he has been seen out of his office since."

"I know, it's been great," admitted George, "students are free to wander the halls once again."

"I suppose that explains why you got so many Christmas cards this year," Charlie pointed at the mantelpiece which was completely covered by cards of all shapes and sizes.

With seven children Christmas at the Burrow was always a loud and boisterous affair, although Percy tended to keep quiet up in his room while he worked on some essays, his absence in the activities were more then made up for by the twins. When not pelting each other, and anyone else who happened to be passing, with snowballs, they would spend their time firing as many questions as they could at their eldest brother.

Bill was two years older then Charlie, so had completed his NEWTs the year before and had started working for Gingotts as a curse-breaker when the twins had started at Hogwarts. This job meant a lot of travelling to exotic places and dealing with dangerous, though exciting, magic. Neither Fred nor George could get enough of the stories of mangled bodies or creatures that Bill had discovered. Whilst Charlie had popped out to get some wood for the fire, he entertained the twins as they washed up.

"…and I swear the skull looked like it had got so big that the head must have exploded from the inside."

"Wicked," grinned Fred, "so do you get to keep any of the treasure you find?"

"Ha, I wish," Bill shook his head so that his long ponytail gave the impression of a dog's tail wagging, "everything goes back to Gingotts and I just get a wage."

"That's a bit unfair," frowned George as he started washing the plates from dinner, "I mean you are the one who is doing all the work."

"Ahh well without Gingotts funding the trips then I wouldn't be getting the chance to find any treasure."

"So say if you managed to work out where some treasure was buried," asked Fred as his twin passed him a plate for drying, "without any help from Gingotts, then you would be able to keep it for yourself?"

"I guess it would depend on where it was found, as long as no one had any claim to it then yeah I suppose you'd be able to keep it for yourself."

"What do you mean any claim to it?"

"You see Fred, you can't just dig up treasure and sell it on," explained Bill, "first you have to check who currently owns the land, and then you also have to check if any of the previous owners of the land are still alive and if so whether or not they have any rights to any treasure found. It can take a good few months to sort out. Especially if a find gets announced in the Daily Prophet, then everybody starts claiming it is theirs. One guy, Mundungas something or other, apparently goes in at least once a month to make a claim on pretty much everything found, I don't think he has been successful yet."

"Oh," said Fred a little bit deflated, his brother could sense that something was wrong and asked him why he was so interested, "it's nothing, I was just wondering what would happen if I found some treasure at say Hogwarts, for example."

Bill lent back on his chair and gave a wide grin, "this wouldn't have anything to do with a certain man called Fenter Prevend would it?"

"How did you know?" asked an amazed George spinning around and inadvertently soaking his twin with the soapy water as he did.

"I think every student at some point finds out about it and then thinks that only they can locate the treasure."

"Really?"

"Yeah, although you seemed to have found about it way before I did," admitted Bill looking impressed, "I came across the whole legend in my fourth year. Actually put an expedition together."

"Wow, you were a bit organised weren't you," said Fred wiping his face with a hand towel, "I guess you ended up in the right job."

"Well I say expedition, it was me, a couple of friends, oh and Charlie."

"What about me?" asked Charlie stomping in from the cold, brushing the snow off his shoulders and dumping a large pile of firewood on the kitchen floor before blowing some heat into his hands and rubbing them together.

"Fenter Prevend," Bill explained simply.

"Ahh the expedition of eighty-four," Charlie softly reminisced, "we had such hopes."

"So what happened?" asked George excitedly

"Well Bill here," Charlie pointed at his older brother as he pulled up a chair,while the twins listened captivated, "got it into his head that the treasure was buried out in the forest…"

"Hey, my reason was logically thought out."

"Yes I seemed to recall that it was 'it can't be buried inside as you can't dig through the stone floors,' positively inspired."

"I didn't say it was a good reason."

"Anyway, we all snuck out after dark, each laden down with a bag full of supplies, and headed out into the forest. We were walking for what seemed like ages until we reached a clearing. Then Bill there waves his wand around muttering 'revelio' or something whilst looking at the ground and you know what happened?"

"What?" asked the twins in unison.

"Absolutely nothing, we had trudged into the middle of nowhere, lugged a bunch of heavy bags with us and then stood there like idiots while Bill did a very good impression of Uncle Enoch whenever he loses his monocle."

"I'll have you know that I've looked into Prevend up in Gringotts, there is a huge file on him," explained Bill, "and everything I have read in there still leads me to think that there is something hidden in the school grounds, maybe not the treasure, but at least something as equally important."

"Like what?" asked Charlie sceptically.

"Personally I think there is a map or a journal out there somewhere and that's what'll lead to the treasure."

"Hang on," said George waving a soaking wet plate, "why would he need a map to find his own treasure?"

"Oh well, you see he was a great treasure hunter," Bill pointed out, "but he had a lousy memory, he had to write everything down or he would forget it."

"So you think that the whole treasure thing really exists?" asked George eagerly.

"Definitely," stated Bill firmly, "the more I read into it the more I am certain of it."

"Just a thought," Fred frowned drying another cup, "but why would he bury it at Hogwarts in the first place?"

"Well, when he retired from Gringotts," explained Bill, "he went to Hogwarts to teach for a bit, when he eventually passed away he left a message in his will that said that he had hidden his most valuable treasure in the safest place he knew. The only two places that fit that description and where he had access were Hogwarts and Gringotts. Now Gringotts has been searched top to bottom but nothing has ever been found."

"Yeah but so has Hogwarts," George interrupted.

"Only the school itself, not the grounds," pointed out Bill, "and besides there are so many secret passages and hidden rooms in the school that someone is bound to have missed something."

"So does anyone know what his most valuable treasure is?" Fred placed the last dried plate onto the pile and sat down around the table.

"No idea, but it'll be something priceless and probably highly magical. He only went after the best."

"God, what would you do with something like that?" Charlie wondered out loud, "I'd think I'd have to just go travelling. How about you Bill?"

"I'd set up and fund my own expeditions," he smiled thoughtfully at this, "anywhere in the world I wanted, hey you could join me since you want to go travelling."

"Oh that's so kind of you to let me tag along, you'd probably end up making me carry everything. So what about you two?"

"Joke shop," the twins said in unison grinning wildly.

"Well I can't exactly say I'm surprised," admitted Bill smiling, "but you two running a business, now that is something I can't picture."

"Oh I don't know," cut in Charlie looking thoughtful, "I can imagine it."

"I meant a successful business. Where random explosions don't happen."

"Ah well in that case, I'll have to agree with you."

"Hey we aren't that bad," scowled George.

"We aren't?"

"Er…ok maybe we are, but you have to admit that since we have been back we haven't done anything bad."

"True, true," nodded Charlie in agreement, "well aside from giving Ron those sweets that turned his ears purple…"

"We didn't make him eat them," George pointed out defensively.

"And accidentally setting fire to the apple tree," added Bill, "although I'm still not entirely sure how you managed that one, since you were only suppose to be chopping wood for the fire."

"That could have happened to anyone," Fred shrugged.

"Or that weird gnome catapult that you constructed outback."

"It'll make it easier when we degnome the garden."

"Or how about Percy?" asked Charlie slyly.

"I don't think he needs degnoming," Fred frowned, pouring himself a glass of pumpkin juice and knocking it back all in one go, "and to be honest I'd be a bit worried if he did."

"Actually I was thinking of the reason he was staying up in his room," Charlie admitted, looking pointedly at the twins as he said this.

"It's not our fault he drank that hair growth potion," Fred waved a finger at his brother, the twins had 'borrowed' some of their efforts from the last class with Snape before the holidays. While most teachers had taken the last week as an excuse to relax and wind down, the Potions Master had not only worked them as hard as ever but lumbered them with homework for the holidays as well.

"You mean aside from the fact that you handed it to him in a glass and told him it was orange juice?"

"Yeah well…" spluttered Fred unable to defend himself, "ok so it was our fault."

"But you have to admit," said George, "that he looks good with long hair."

"True, he looks great," acknowledged Bill raising his hands, "he just can't walk anywhere in case he trips over it."

The days passed quickly at the Burrow, Percy eventually joined in with the rest of the family (once the effects of the potion had worn off and he no longer resembled a large shag-pile carpet), or at least he did until Fred and George had pelted him with so many snowballs that he was dangerously close to getting frostbite simultaneously on every part of his body.

Christmas day eventually arrived and the whole family sat around a large Christmas tree covered in every possible decoration that stationed in the corner of the room, wearing the jumpers that Mrs Weasley had knitted for them all, tearing into their presents as the fire crackled softly, its warm glow filling the room.

"Oho," exclaimed Mr Weasley beaming widely whilst holding up a plastic toy plane, "thank you very much Charlie. Look, it's got a propellotor and everything."

"Brilliant Bill," said George looking at the freshly exposed bag, "how did you know that's what I wanted?"

"Logical guess work, plus the owl you sent me that said 'can you get me some dungbombs for Christmas?' was a bit of a giveaway."

"Don't think that you'll be allowed to use those in the house," warned Mrs Weasley sternly as she took a glitter covered card out of an envelope, "oh thank you Ginny it's wonderful."

The twins made the most of their remaining time at the Burrow, which of course meant that by the time it came around for them to return to Hogwarts both Mr and Mrs Weasley were ready for a nice long rest where they didn't constantly have to check up on what Fred and George were doing.

"I'll write soon Percy and send you some more scones," Mrs Weasley said hugging him. Charlie, who already had the goodbye treatment from his mother, was loading his school things into the car. Releasing her captive from her embrace she turned to the twins.

"As for you two," she said sternly, her hands placed firmly on her hips, "I want you to be on your best behaviour."

"Mum, honestly," replied George looking hurt, "Fred and I are always well behaved at school."

"Then why do I have a number of letters from Professor McGonagall upstairs," she pointed a finger back to the house, "I swear she sends me more letters then you do."

"They were just a bunch of misunderstandings mum," said Fred reassuringly before hugging her, "don't worry we won't be caught breaking the rules."

"What do you mean, 'won't be caught'? How about just not breaking the rules?"

"Sorry mum," apologised George as he too hugged his mother, "it's the best we can offer."

The four boys bundled themselves into Mr Weasleys old Ford Anglia, Charlie up front with his dad with Percy sitting between the two twins.

"Have a good time," said Bill through one of the open windows, "I'll try and write more letters. Oh and you two, good luck with the treasure hunting."

The car pulled away down the dusty drive, Mrs Weasley and Bill waved heartily at their disappearing family as both Ron and Ginny ran behind it trying to keep it in view for as long a possible.

"What did Bill mean about treasure hunting?" asked Mr Weasley once the car had turned out the drive leaving the Burrow behind.

"Oh nothing," replied Fred casually.

"Just something to do with school," dismissed George.

"Ahh," said Mr Weasley, he paused for a few moments before adding, "for the record, Prevend didn't hide it in the lake. I spent one very wet Easter holiday during my third year finding that out."


	13. A Bright Future Mapped Out

"Nice catch," said George as his brother disappeared behind his bed having launched himself into a one handed dive to catch the Fanged Frisbee.

"Thanks," replied Fred clamouring back onto his feet and flinging the projectile to Lee who caught it deftly, "has anyone seen Filch since we got back?"

"Yeah," nodded Lee spinning the Frisbee towards George, who ended up catching it badly and got his fingers nibbled for his troubles, "Alicia made the mistake of knocking over one of the vases in the main hall with her bag, Filch of course was his usual mild-mannered self and the last thing I heard was that she was crying in her room."

"I heard from some of the guys who stayed at Hogwarts over the break," George sucked on his recently bitten finger, "apparently when Filch finally did emerge from his office he was about a hundred times worse then normal. Stomping up and down the halls, and dragging people to his office for the smallest of things."

"Oh well I suppose it could be worse," admitted Lee, "at least this time he is fully dressed."

The previous exhalation experienced by the Gryffindors was soon put to rest by Filch, who seemed to take it as his personal mission in life to punish each and every member of the House for the invisibility incident. Every time the twins saw him he was either in the process of dragging some poor unfortunate to his office or just about to pounce on said unfortunate and drag them off to his office.

It wasn't long before the twins also fell foul of Filch's crusade against Gryffindor House.

"God I love those nap times," remarked George as the History of Magic lesson drew to a close.

"I know," yawned Fred, swinging his bag over his shoulder, "it's so convenient, I think we should be given at least one period to get a little shut eye in everyday."

The brothers slowly plodded out of the room, still a bit groggy from the napping, and out into the corridor where most of the students were chatting loudly as they caught up with their friends.

"Here, I don't suppose you have any Chocolate Frogs left do you?" asked Fred licking his lips, "I'm completely starved."

"Yeah sure," replied George putting his hand into his pocket and pulling out a pack, which he handed to his brother, "here."

"Thanks," Fred took the Chocolate Frog, tore off the packaging and lifted it to his mouth. He didn't take a bite but instead wrinkled his nose with a frown on his face, "oh God what's that smell?"

"Hey don't look at me," George replied defensively, he too looked around for the source of the stench.

Eventually he found it. Lolling about on the floor by his foot was a dungbomb with it's side cracked open.

"Ahh," said George, his voice was muffled as, like most of the students in the vicinity, he currently had his hand over his mouth and nose, "I must have dropped it when I took the frog out."

"Wow," exclaimed Fred all thoughts of eating firmly extinguished, "those are really smelly, Bill must have gone for a strong batch."

"AHA!" shouted Filch suddenly cannoning around the corner, a little out of breath with his cat slinking smugly behind him.

"It might not have been us," pointed out George completely failing to take into account that the rest of the students had backed away leaving the twins alone at the centre of a rather whiffy corridor.

"Come with me," Filch sneered, before catching a nostril full of the stench and turning rather green looking.

Fred and George traipsed along the familiar journey to Filch's office. Once inside the room they stood in their usual spots and waited for the haranguing to begin.

"Detention that's what you'll get," snarled Filch before reaming off a whole host of unpleasant experiences that he wished to inflict on them instead, "too good for you that is. Disembowelling that's what you need or whipping …"

As the caretaker continued to rant Fred's eyes flicked lazily around the room taking in the general disarray of the room. He noticed something written on one of the drawers of the cabinets, which caught his attention, and gentle nudged his brother with his elbow whilst Filch was busy digging out their replacement files.

"What?" mouthed George, and in response Fred nodded to the drawer in question. Written on the side of the drawer in bold black letters were the words: Confiscated and Highly Dangerous. Smiling at his brother George put his hand into his pocket, pulled out another dungbomb. He pointed to it , then at Filch, then indicated towards Fred and finally the drawer. His twin gave him a wink to show that he was thinking the same thing.

With Filch's back still turned George flung the dungbomb down, it cracked loudly on the floor next to the caretaker's feet and the room was instantly filled with the most revolting smell. It was so bad that in the enclosed room it started to make the twin's eyes water.

"Argh!" Filch cried clamping a hand over his nose and mouth as his eyes streamed.

Fred worked quickly Any noise he was making was easily drowned out by Filch's loud complaining, and opened the drawer just enough to get his hand inside and grab the first thing he could reach. He rapidly returned to his spot and stuffed whatever he had taken into his pocket.

"GET OUT!" shouted Filch pointing angrily at the door, "I'll deal with you later."

The brothers left Filch in the corridor taking in large gulps of fresh air, and hurried away quickly.

"What did you get?" asked George eagerly once they were around the corner.

"I don't know," admitted Fred.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out what was inside. The twins looked at it.

"Er… now I don't want you to take this the wrong way," admitted George looking down at Fred's hand, "but of all the things that drawer could have contained, why did you grab an old bit of parchment?"

"It was the first thing I found," explained Fred disappointedly. George took it off him as he tried to be optimistic, "maybe there is something written on it."

"Oh my God" exclaimed George loudly as he unfolded the parchment and looked at it in wonder.

"What? What is it?"

"Well I think I have a leftover packet of Bertie Botts upstairs," George grinned, handing the paper back to Fred, "as for this, it's as I thought, just a useless bit of old parchment."

"It has to do something," complained Fred examining the item as the brothers made their way back to Gryffindor Tower, "I mean why else would Filch have kept it in that drawer?"

"That's actually a good point."

"Well there is no need to sound so surprised about it. What was that spell that Charlie said Bill had used?"

"I think it was 'Revelio'," recalled George, "but Charlie said it didn't work, I think Bill might have just been making that incantation up. I very much doubt that saying a normal word weirdly would result in any effect, it's a bit ridiculous."

"True," admitted Fred, "but I think there is a simple revealing spell in our Standard Book of Spells."

"Er… how do you know that?" asked George frowning.

"Maybe I put in some extra studying," Fred cast a sideways look at his brother who now had a sceptical expression on his face, "ok Lee threw his book at me one time to stop me snoring, I'm telling you when you get woken up by being smacked in the head by the written word you generally remember which chapter it fell open on."

The brothers made their way upstairs and into their dormitories and immediately started flicking through their copy of the book.

"There it is," Fred said abruptly jabbing his finger into the book.

"What do you know," smiled George as he skimmed through the page, "it is 'Revelio', well Specialis Revelio at any rate."

"Might as well give it ago," Fred pulled out the parchment from his pocket and tapped his wand on the page, "Specialis Revelio."

The brothers looked expectantly at the parchment, Fred inhaled sharply, words slowly appeared on the page as though an unseen hand was scrawling the message with an equally invisible pen.

"_Mr Moony would like remind you to be careful where you are jabbing your wand."_

"Er…right," said George uncertainly as the writing continued.

_"Mr Wormtail agrees with Mr Moody and would like to add that if you enjoy poking your wand where it isn't wanted that the Marauders are more then willing to suggest a place for you to stick it."_

_"Mr Prongs not only reiterates the previous remarks butwould also like to add that you should keep your freckled nose out of our business and somewhere where it would be more useful."_

_"Mr Padfoot concurs with his associate's comments and would like you to consider that the more useful place to keep your nose would be under a paper bag."_

"Hahaha," George gave his brother a little dig in the ribs, "they are calling you ugly."

"Er… George, we're twins."

"Oh yeah, anyway…well done there Fred," said George slapping him on the shoulder, "of all the things to take you choose a scrap of old parchment that likes to insult people."

"No there has to be more to it," stated Fred firmly and he continued to look at the blank page, "just insulting people doesn't make this 'Highly Dangerous'."

"Fine," George gave up shaking his head, "maybe there is more to it but we have no idea what it is."

"Not yet," Fred folded up the parchment and slid it into his pocket, "but I'll work it out eventually."

"Yeah right, come on lets go get some food."

"Marauders," Fred said to himself as he followed his brother, "nice name."

The twins joined their friends down in the Great Hall, and as talk turned to more interesting matters, such as Quidditch, the holidays, and the Filch's choice of underwear, all thoughts of the parchment were long forgotten.

The evening slowly dragged on, most people were working hard in the Common Room, trying to complete the holiday homework which many of the students completely forgot to do. Fred and George took the opportunity to copy as much of the work off of Angelina and Alicia under the pretence of just checking their answers.

Later as the inevitable boredom kicked in the twins became restless. Not only that but the long hours of work (well… copying) had taken their toll.

"God, I'm so hungry," complained George, his stomach gave a loud gurgle to emphasises this point.

"Ahh well I can help out there," admitted Fred smiling.

"Really? Did mum send some more cakes today?"

"Nope, but Bill gave me some very useful information at Christmas."

"Such as."

"Well," Fred leaned forward and kept his voice low so no one else could hear him, "he told me how to get to the kitchens."

"Nice one," smiled George before frowning, "hey how come he didn't tell me?"

"Did you asked him how to get to the kitchens?"

"Ok, fair point. So, how do we get there?"

"Easy," replied Fred, "there is a hidden door behind a painting of a bowl of fruit off one of the doors at the bottom of the main stairway. All we need to do is tickle the pear so it giggles and the door swings open."

"Brilliant," exclaimed George, "lets take our bags with us and we can stock up."

"Good idea."

The two of them disappeared upstairs, grabbed their bags, emptied the contents onto the floor and flicked them onto their backs. Fred seized his wand off the bedside cabinet and followed his brother out of the door. As they bounded down the stairs to the Common Room they met Charlie coming up the other way. He took one look at the pair of them with their bags slung over their shoulders and shook his head.

"Ok you two," he sighed, "mum asked me to have a word with you about you behaviour."

"You're kidding?" asked an amazed Fred.

"Nope," Charlie shrugged, "she's worried that you two will be the first in our family to get expelled."

"Honestly Charlie," snorted Fred, "George and I take our school work very seriously."

"Yeah," added George, "we'll probably end up as the first two joint head boys in the history of Hogwarts."

"Yeah right," laughed Charlie, "look just promise me you won't get into any serious trouble."

"Come on Charlie," moaned George.

"I mean it, promise me."

"Fine, I promise I won't get into any serious trouble."

"Good, one down," he turned to look at the other twin, "Fred?"

"Yes?"

"Fred," said Charlie warningly.

"Ok," sighed Fred, "I solemnly swear that I'll behave myself."

"Good," Charlie broke into a grin, "sorry about that but mum made me promise, and I know for a fact if I didn't have a word she would somehow find out. She is uncanny like that. Well good night you two."

Charlie disappeared around the curving staircase.

"Yeah right, I solemnly swear that I'll behave myself," smirked Fred giving George a slight dig in the stomach and stuffing his wand into his pocket, "more like I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Laughing to himself Fred bounced down the stairs with his twin in tow. Some students were still in the Common Room working hard on their essays as they passed through.

"Ok we are going to have to be very careful," whispered George as they peered out through the portal, "Filch will kill us if he catches us."

"Oh you don't have to worry about him," said a voice suddenly causing the boys to jump, looking up they saw that the Gryffindor ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, was addressing them.

"How come?" asked Fred.

"Peeves smashed up a load of telescopes in the Astronomy Tower earlier so Filch is up there now with a broom cleaning up the glass."

"Excellent," grinned the twins, "thanks Sir Nick."

Fred and George quickly took the stairs two at a time, with Filch being all the way up in the Tower there was no way he could hear their footsteps as they galloped down the steps. They turned left at the bottom of the stairs and headed through a door, which lead towards the Hufflepuff dormitories. The brothers passed down a flight of stone steps, but rather then ended up in a dark dank dungeon that would usually occupy the sublevels of the school, they were in a large, stone corridor, lit with many torches and covered with brightly coloured paintings that mainly depicted different foods.

"If we can't find the kitchens," said George, "I'm gonna eat one of those pictures."

"There it is," whispered Fred pointing at a picture of a giant fruit bowl, which had a huge green pair in it.

"Well here goes nothing," George stepped forward and tickled the pear lightly with his fingers, it immediately gave a soft giggle and began to shake slightly. The pear suddenly turned into a large green door handle. Shrugging at his brother Fred turned the handle and pulled the door open.

Behind the door was a huge room, as large and as high-ceilinged as the Great Hall directly above. There were mounds of metal pans and pots piled up around the stone-walls glittering in the warm light emanating from a great brick fireplace at the far end of the room. In the middle were four long wooden tables which reminded the twins of the layout of the Great Hall at meal times. Most of the details were lost on the twins as they were more concerned with the strange looking creatures heading towards them at the moment. There were about a hundred or so of them and they all had huge green eyes, long sharp thin noses, elongated hands and feet and odd shaped ears, which reminded the twins of bats. The other thing that they had in common was that they genuinely all looked pleased to see Fred and George.

"House-elves," concluded Fred as the little creatures surrounded the brothers, all of them bowing low, "I think this is the first time I've seen one."

"Hi guys," George beamed, raising a hand up in acknowledgement, "nice place you have down here."

The closest house-elf to the brothers looked up and said in a very high pitched voice, "is there anything we can do for you sir?"

"Well my brother and I here," explained Fred putting his hand on this brothers shoulder, "were feeling a bit peck…"

Before he could even finish his sentence a group of the elves gave an excite yelp and hurried away, when they returned they were each carrying a large tray laden down with a whole variety of foods ranging from cooked meats to cakes.

The brother took as much food as they could fit into their bags, making sure to take at least one item from each tray so as not to upset the house-elf carrying it. Weighed down with their overflowing bags they waved a cheery goodbye and headed back up the steps.

"You know," said George as he crammed a pork-pie into his mouth, "I really like those guys."

"Yeah, we'll have to visit them more often," concluded Fred as he pushed open the portrait of the fruit bowl, as he stuck his head out he notice something that made him swear loudly.

"What's wrong?" asked George still on the stairs.

"I think I just saw Mrs Norris, we'll have to move quickly before Filch turns up."

They ran as quickly as they could, but laden down with the bags of food meant that the progress was much slower then normal. Puffing hard at the top of one of the landings, Fred held his finger up to his lips and the two brothers listened out.

"Well done my sweet," they heard Filch wheeze from down below, "I'll catch whoever it is."

"Damn," swore George quietly, they couldn't use the stairs in case Filch spotted them. He pointed along one of the corridors, "this way."

George led the way down one of the dark corridors that was spatially lit by torches. When they reached the far end he took a look over his shoulder.

"Oh no," he hissed, Fred followed his gaze to see what was wrong. Running down the centre of the corridor was a trail of food, "we forgot to close our bags properly, Filch will follow the food all the way."

Each of the brothers swung their bags around to their fronts and held them closed as they turned around the corner. The careered along the route, passing sleeping portraits and suits of armour, until they came to an abrupt end.

"Quick in here," Fred tried the first door handle he could and the brothers pushed into room as they heard the faint voice of Filch from down the passage.

"Filch'll know he has us trapped down here," George said urgently looking around the room for another exit, "how about the window?"

"No good," admitted Fred looking out, "not unless you want to break both your legs."

"I suppose we could just barricade ourselves in," George held up his bag, "I mean we have enough supplies."

"Yeah but then we'll just be trapped in here until they manage to open the door or we run out of food."

"True," conceded George.

"Hey I can just about see part of the Owlery from here."

"Good for you," replied George making a final sweep of the room in case he missed anything, "but that doesn't really help us at the moment."

"No, I mean we barricade ourselves in, and then we send an owl for help."

"What kind of help?"

"I don't know, ask Lee to find a ladder or fly a broom up here."

"Actually that's not such a bad idea," admitted George, "there is just one slight drawback."

"And what's that?"

"Well we don't actually have anything to write on, write with or indeed any ink. But apart from those insignificant details it's a good plan."

"Look," Fred pointed at the desks that lined the classroom, "the ink wells are full, we can dip our fingers in them and use them to write with, and here we can use this to write on."

Fred pulled out the old parchment that he had stolen from Filch's office and waved it at his brother.

"Fine," George shook his head, "you write the message and I'll barricade the door."

George pressed his ear to the door and could hear the muffled sounds of Filch checking ear room along the corridor. He looked back at his brother to tell him to hurry up but for some reason rather then writing away Fred was just staring at the parchment with a stunned look on his face.

"George," he said in an awe struck voice, "look at this."

"What is it?" asked George urgently. Hurrying over to his twin, he took the paper out of Fred's hands and looked at it.

The parchment was no longer blank, and it wasn't hurling insults at them this time either. It was a map of the school, showing every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds.

"Look at that, that's the best bit."

George's eyes looked down at to where Fred's finger was pointing, two tiny ink dots were in the exact room on the map that the twins were in, and the dots were labelled in miniscule writing; Fred Weasley and George Weasley.

Fred then moved his finger along the map, down the corridor outside the room, two tiny dots labelled Argus Filch and Mrs Norris were slowly proceeding along it.

"This is amazing," exclaimed George examining it intently, "and that wasn't the best bit you pointed out Fred. That is."

Frowning Fred looked back at the map and smiled. There was another way out the room.

"It must be hidden behind that tapestry," he said passing over to it and trying to lift it up, "it won't budge."

"Hang on," George crossed over the room and stood next to his brother.

He watched as his little ink self appeared to wave an equally tiny wand at the wall. George pulled out his wand and waved it expectantly at the tapestry. Nothing happened. He looked back down at the map, and a small speech bubble appeared next to his figure with the word 'expiscor' in it.

"Expiscor," George repeated waving his wand.

A dark line appeared down the middle of the tapestry, it went all the way from the top to the bottom and then each of the sides suddenly rolled apart to reveal the opening. The brothers quickly dived inside and the opening closed up behind them as the door handle was twisted.

The twins held their breath in the dark passage way and listened as an annoyed Filch cursed.

"They can't have disappeared," he muttered angrily to himself as he explored the room, "we must have missed something in one of the other rooms. Come on Mrs Norris we'd better check them again."

When his footsteps had died down the twins lit the ends of their wands and looked down at the map.

"Amazing," commented George, as he took a long look a the parchment, "look, this school is riddled with secret passages. Merlin's Beard they even lead out of the school. I think those ones are heading off towards Hogsmeade," he smiled as he looked up at his brother, "er… are you crying?"

"It's… just… so… beautiful," Fred replied wiping away a slight dampness from the corner of his eye.

"You do know what this means don't you?" grinned George, "Filch can't catch us. Ever."


	14. Gone For A Pint

It had been late by the time the twins had, with the aid of the magical map, plotted a course back to Gryffindor Tower. The Common Room had been empty when they eventually huffed themselves and their weighty bags through the portal. Fred had immediately gone to retrieve Lee to tell him their fantastic news. At first, he was less then receptive, although the fact that Fred had bounded into the room, collected up a pillow and proceeded to smack Lee with it until he got out of bed. His bleary eyed expression soon changed to one of excited wonder after he had actually seen the parchment.

"Amazing," exclaimed Lee, examining the map that had been spread out over the Common Room table, "it shows the whole school. And Filch had this?"

"Yeah," nodded Fred, taking a bite out of a small cake, "but we don't think he ever learnt how to use it."

"So how did you two manage it?"

"To be honest I don't know," admitted George, "one minute it was blank, then it insulted Fred for a bit, then blank again… and then it just seemed to work."

"Maybe it only works when you really need it to," pondered Lee, helping himself to one of the goodies from George's bag.

"I guess that would work," agreed Fred, "I mean we were stuck and needed to find our way out, so it sounds reasonable enough."

"Any ideas who made this?" Lee asked as he leaned forward to examine the small dot marked 'Argus Filch' still down on the second floor corridor checking the rooms one for time.

"Well their names were Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs…" Fred frowned as he tapped the heading of the map that stated:

_Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs  
__Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers  
__are proud to present  
__THE MARAUDER'S MAP_

"I can read that," Lee admitted shaking his head, "I meant do you know anything about them?"

"Not much other then the names," Fred said, "but I think they were students though."

"How come?"

"Well I doubt any teacher would be a 'Purveyor of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers'," Fred pointed out.

"True," nodded George examining the map intently, "from the look of it they didn't cover every part of the school."

"What do you mean?"

"Well look at Gryffindor Tower on the map," George tapped his finger on the tiny dots with his, Fred and Lee's names above them, "it shows it in complete detail and you can see where everyone is."

"Right."

"Now look at Hagrid's, it only has the basic outline of the hut not anything inside."

"Ahh I see what you mean," replied Lee as his eyes scanned over the parchment, "whoever made this could only go on the parts of the castle that they knew about, but how come all the Houses show up?"

"Well there are four of them so maybe there was one person from each House," conceded George, "or even better they were all from one House and just blatantly snuck into the other ones undetected."

"Now that's an idea," smiled Lee.

"So there are at least a few blind spots on this map," Fred pointed out warningly, "but I don't think that'll matter much in the long run. As long as we can work out which of the short cuts and secret passages Filch doesn't know about we'll be laughing."

The three boys were meticulous in their use of the map; first they tried out a few of the short cuts, which meant they drastically reduced the time needed to get to lessons which in turn meant longer lie-ins and more time for that extra slice of desert at lunch time. Once they had got used to being first to all the lessons, something of an unexpected surprise for Professor McGonagall, they began to study Filch's movements on the map and build up a list of the passages that he never used.

"See," Lee pointed at the map as the other two huddled around it, "there is a secret passageway behind that statute of Merlin but he never uses it, even though it's the quickest way back to his office from the Great Hall."

"Another one to add to the growing list," noted Fred scribbling away on the inside of one of his books.

"Which one is that again?" asked Fred staring as the little Filch dot moved along the corridor followed by an even smaller Mrs Norris dot.

"The one where you tap the statute on the forehead and say 'permoveo' and it just steps aside for you."

"Hey have either of you noticed a pattern with the secret passages that Filch uses?" George said looking thoughtful.

"Not really," admitted Lee, "but I'm not as fascinated by Filch as you seem to be."

"Look at the list of the passages he uses," George pointed at the list written down in Fred's book, "and now look at the list that he doesn't use."

"Oh I see," Fred's face lit up as realisation dawned, "from the look of it he only uses the passages that you don't need to use a wand for."

"That can't be right," said Lee pulling Fred's book over to him to read.

"Actually now that I think about it, I don't think I have ever seen Filch using a wand," George looked over at the other two so as if to confirm this observation.

"True," admitted Fred, "he's always pushing a broom around or polishing something by hand."

"Here, you don't think he is a squib do you?" Lee asked smiling.

"I guess that would explain why he hates the students so much," pondered George looking serious, "but it doesn't explain the most important question about Filch."

"And what's that?"

"Why on earth he would willingly wear those grubby pants."

The first weekend of the term loomed with the snow still heavy on the grounds of Hogwarts.

"Good God it is cold," said Lee he stood outside with the twins, stamping his feet to try and get some warmth into his body.

"Yeah I know," replied Fred as he grabbed a handful of snow and carefully crafted it into a snowball.

"You know what I could go for?" asked George as he two sculpted his own snowball.

"What?"

"A nice warm Butterbeer," he said smiling, as he flung his snowball hard in the direction of some other Gryffindors.

"Yeah I could go for one of them as well," admitted Fred watching as Miro turned around to see who had just hit him on the head with the snow. He caught Fred's eye who then nodded pointedly at a group of Ravenclaws currently huddled together laughing loudly.

"Well why don't we?" asked George, turning to the other two with a grin while in the background Miro fired off a rather large snowball hitting a young Ravenclaw squarely on the back of his head.

"Because we don't actually have any here in the school," reasoned Lee who watched as some of the Ravenclaws hit Miro and his friends with a barrage of snow.

"True," admitted George as Fred hefted his projectile at a young Hufflepuff student, who span around with a rather cold neck to see the group of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws pelting each other, "but they'd have them in Hogsmeade."

"Are you suggesting we sneak out of school?" asked Fred, feigning a look of shock.

"Well it's either that or join in with them," George nodded down the hill at what now had evolved from a small skirmish into a full-blown battle between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Despite being heavily outnumbered Miro and his friends were doing well, mainly due to the fact that since they were much older then their counterparts they were able to use their wands to fire off the snowballs rather then having to make them by hand.

"As fun as that looks," replied Lee giving a shiver as he watched as a large group of Hufflepuffs joining the melee, bombarding both rival groups with equal impunity, "I think I would prefer the Butterbeer."

"Well it's decided then," smiled George pulling out the Marauders Map from his pocket, "Butterbeers all round."

The three boys headed inside the castle trying to decide which of the seven possible routes into Hogsmeade to use, in the end deciding on the one behind a mirror on the ground floor. Fred and Lee kept look out as George attempted to open the secret passageway.

"Prodigium," muttered George, sweeping his wand across the mirror, causing a thin jet of magic to shoot out and hit it. The mirror remained exactly where it was. It didn't spring forward to reveal an opening like the Fat Lady nor did it turn into a door like the way down to the kitchens instead it just remained exactly the same. Frowning Fred poked the mirror with his wand, but it just passed through it, the tip disappearing.

George pulled his wand back out and looked at it, once he was satisfied that nothing bad had happened to it, he reached forward and pressed his fingers against the mirror. It felt as though he was pushing his hand through honey, the surface of the mirror became bent and distorted around his hand, as he probed further with his hand the tips of his fingers came free from the syrupy like sensation and Fred could feel cool air on the other-side.

"Did it work?" whispered Fred from his look out point.

"Mischief managed dear brother, mischief managed" grinned George folding the map up and stowing it away with his wand, "let's go."

"Argh," said a disgusted Lee when he finally pushed through the mirror and into the passageway. Looking back at the mirror the boys could see through it into the school corridor, as though they were separated by glass.

"I know, it feels horrible," sympathised Fred, "but consider how worth it it'll be once we are supping on Butterbeer."

The hallway behind the mirror was very short and led to a ladder. Climbing down it the boys found themselves in a dark passageway, which was very narrow, only leaving enough room for the boys to walk in single file. George led the other two down the dark corridor, the light from their wands casting eerie shadows on the walls. The uneven floor, and the fact that the only form of light came from the wands so they could not see how far they had come or had left to go, meant that the progress was slow.

"Careful there," George pointed to a pile of rubble on the ground with his wand, "looks like part of the ceiling caved in."

"We must be getting close now, it's nearly been an hour" wondered Fred as he sidestepped the debris.

"Yeah," agreed Lee from the back, "We must have easily walked to Hogsmeade by now."

Sure enough they soon found the end of the tunnel, which ended rather unceremoniously with a dead-end. George pointed silently with his wand to an old wooden ladder affixed to the wall. They climbed up the creaking ladder and found themselves in a short corridor inside a building of some sort. At the end of the passageway was a large window, stretching from the ground right to the ceiling.

"Hmm," mumbled George thoughtfully as he tapped on the solid glass, before taking out his wand and waving it as he had done to the mirror in the school, "prodigium"

Reaching forward again with his hand, the glass enveloped his fingers just like the mirror had done. Smiling to himself he walked forward.

"You know I doubt I'll ever get use to that," admitted Lee giving a slight shiver, "where are we?"

The boys were standing inside another short corridor next to the now solid mirror. Before either Fred or George could answer a door at the far end of the hallway opened and a rather fussy looking woman with a stressed look on her face came through it.

"Honestly," she snapped to herself looking down at a rather battered package, "you'd think that writing 'fragile' on something would guarantee it is treated with a bit more care. Out of the way."

The woman barged passed the three boys, nearly knocking Fred flying and out of the door at the other end. Light and cold air streamed in before the door snapped shut.

"I guess that's the way out," Fred said before walking over to the first door that the woman had appeared through and opening it a crack to have a look, "Owls."

"Owls?"

"Yeah," replied Fred heading back towards the exit, "hundreds of them, it must be the post office."

"Brilliant," smiled Lee, "so we are in Hogsmeade then."

"Must be," George said grinning, slapping his hands together and rubbing them, "right lets go find some Butterbeers."

Wandering out in the open they trudged out into the snow-covered ground. They were standing in the main street in Hogsmeade; a picturesque little village with thatched cottages and shops.

"They must sell them in there," said Lee pointing to a large building with a impressive sign that stated it was 'the Three Broomsticks'."

"Good thinking."

The three boys pushed open the door and were greeted by a warm rush of air and the low hum of conversation.

Looking quickly around the room they checked in case any of the teachers were there, luckily they couldn't see anyone so they approached the bar and eventually managed to get the curvy barmaid's attention.

"Normally people just say excuse me, rather then 'hey lady'," scolded the barmaid, "are you three from Hogwarts?"

"Yes," replied Fred a little warily.

"A bit young to be allowed into Hogsmeade aren't you?"

"Nope," smiled George innocently, "we're third years, we just look young for our age. I think it's a bit of a blessing really."

"Ahh well my mistake," she grinned, "I've never seen you in here before have I?"

"Oh it's our first time visiting Hogsmeade," admitted Fred, "we couldn't make it the last few times."

"Well lucky for you that you could this time, especially seeing as the next visit isn't scheduled for two weeks."

"Er…well we were given special permission," George covered quickly.

"Oh well that's ok then," her eyes then lifted over the boys' heads as she looked in the direction of the sound of the door opening, "ahh Professor McGonagall so good to see you again."

There was a slight pause before she leaned over the bar and looked down at the three boys, who had dived heroically for cover under one of the tables.

"So I can take it you aren't suppose to be here?" she laughed, "relax I was kidding about the Professor, I just wanted to see if you were being cheeky or not."

"I'm so glad we can amuse you," groaned George from the bottom of the pile, "Fred could you move your knee please? That's a sensitive area."

"So what can I do for you three young gentlemen?" she asked once the boys had sorted out their respective limps and managed to pull themselves upright once again.

"Three Butterbeers please Miss," asked Lee politely.

"Coming right up, and most people just call me Madam Rosmerta," she smiled kindly at them as she reached down, pulled up three dusty bottles, and placed them on the bar with accompanying tankards.

"Cheers," thanked Fred as the boys each grabbed a bottle and glass and sat down at a table near the window.

"Ahhh nice," sighed George happily as he took a large mouthful of the warm buttery drink.

"Now that was worth it," agreed Lee grinning broadly.

"We should do this every weekend," Fred hiccupped, slopping some of his drink down his front.

"Can't next weekend, I'm commentating," said Lee shaking his head, "it's Slytherin versus Ravenclaw."

The three friends whiled away the afternoon with idle chatter as they slowly drained their glasses. It was an extremely relaxing day and they could have easily settled into their seats for the rest of the day. Unfortunately for them it was not all plain sailing.

"Ahh Professor McGonagall so good to see you again," beamed Madam Rosmerta casting the boys a quick look of warning.

"Relax Lee," Fred waved a dismissive hand, as his friend was about to duck under a table, "she is just messing with us again."

"Good day Rosmerta," replied the unmistakable voice of Professor McGonagall, "good Christmas?"

Fred nearly choked on his Butterbeer, George spilled some as his tankard dropped down on the table and Lee banged his head as he dived under the table.

"Oh can't complain," admitted Madam Rosmerta as she reached for a bottle from behind her, "the usual Mineva?"

"Please."

"What do we do?" whispered George hastily, "budge up a bit Fred."

"Look, I don't think when they designed these tables they worried much about whether or not three people could comfortably hide under them."

"Damn," Lee swore, craning his neck out a bit, "she's sat down at a table near the door."

"Maybe we'll be able to sneak out when she's not looking," wondered Fred.

"Well she might not spot us," replied George, "but one of them might."

Bustling through the door came Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout and, stooping low to get through, Hagrid, each of them gave a hearty greeting and drink order to Madam Rosmerta and joined McGonagall at her table.

"So we are stuck here until they go?" complained Fred, "that could be hours."

As the boys cowered under the table wondering what to do, their saviour came in the form of Madam Rosmerta who had come over to their table to clean away the bottles and tankards.

"There is a back way out," she murmured just loud enough for them to hear whilst she wiped the table, "just go through the back of the bar there and it's the side door on the left."

"Nice one."

"Cheers Madam Rosmerta."

With Lee leading the way the three boys waddled slowly behind the bar and out through the corridor. The loud hum of chatter faded slightly once they were out of sight and could stand up properly. Opening the side door they stepped out onto the soft ground, crunching the snow beneath their feet.

"That was close," said Lee rubbing his hands together as his breath misted in the cool air.

"Yeah, we better get back, it takes a while down that passageway."

Moving quickly across the street they made their way back to the post office, pushing open the door they stepped inside and stood in front of the mirror.

"Prodigium" said Fred waving his wand, he gave each door a check to see if the coast was clear and dived through the mirror, swiftly followed by the other two.

Their progress to the school was much quicker on the way back, mainly due to the fact that they at least knew where they were going.

"I can't wait until we learn to Apparate," admitted Fred as he climbed the final rung of the ladder and step out with the back of the mirror in the school ahead of him.

"I hear that," agreed Lee as Fred performed the incantation, "that's a bit of a tiring walk."

"Shame Zonko's was shut," sighed George as the three of them stepped through into Hogwarts, "we'll have to go next week I guess."

"Definitely," concurred Fred, he place a hand on his stomach as it growled loudly, "I could do with some food after all that walking, fancy a trip down to the kitchens?"

"Good call," grinned Lee, "better use the map to check where Filch is first though."

"Good idea," admitted George grabbing the map from his pocket and unfolding it, "it's been such a fine day, it would be awful to ruin it by getting caught by him."

"What's wrong?" asked Fred at his twin's frowned expression.

"It's the map," George said simply, turning it around to show his brother and Lee, "it's blank."


	15. Shuffle Along

"What do you mean it's blank?" asked Fred grabbing the map.

"What do you think I mean?" huffed George, "I mean it's blank, that's what I mean."

"How did that happen?" asked an equally confused Lee.

"No idea," George scratched his head as Fred began shaking the map in an attempt to force it to work.

"So how did you get it to work in the first place?"

"Er… we're not actually sure," replied Fred slightly embarrassed as he handed the map back to his brother, "I mean I tried using a revealing spell on it but that didn't work, and then well…"

"…we ended up down in the kitchens," George followed on as he recalled the story for Lee, "and Mrs Norris spotted us so we had to hide in a class room."

"And I pulled it out of my pocket and the map was already there," said Fred giving a shrug in acknowledgement of a rather poor turn of events.

"Ok think carefully," Lee said looking seriously at Fred, "between putting the blank parchment into your pocket and taking it out again in the classroom, was there anything that you did involving the map?"

"Nope," Fred frowned shaking his head, "we just went down to the kitchens nothing else, and I didn't even go near the parchment until I took it out in the classroom."

"Well we did meet Charlie on the staircase outside our room, remember?" George pointed out.

"Yeah but nothing really happened there," said Fred dismissively, "well aside from him making us promise… to… behave. Here let me see that."

Fred snatched the map out of George's hand and pulled his wand out of his pocket. He frowned deeply as though he was trying to remember something. His face suddenly lit up as inspiration dawned. The other two looked at him expectantly.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Fred touched the tip of his wand against the page as he said this and held his breath.

As the spidery writing once again filtered across the page revealing the map, Fred started shuffling backwards with a huge grin plastered across his face, pumping his arms at his sides as he gave the other two a little victory dance.

"How did you know to do that?" asked an amazed Lee, interrupting Fred as he had started to chant 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,' whilst continuing his dance.

"Well Charlie made me promise to behave myself," explained Fred smiling, "and when he left I turned to George and jokingly said 'yeah right more like I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,' and…"

"You put your wand in your pocket along with map," finished George, "here give me that."

George took the map from his brother. who had once again started his dancing, and took his wand out.

"Mischief managed," he said and tapped the parchment lightly with his wand. After a moment he gave a loud whoop and punched the air with his fist. Turning the map around he showed the other two that it had gone blank.

"How?" gasped Fred mid-pose as Lee took the map and looked at it.

"The same as you," explained George, "I put the wand into my pocket at the same time I said those words."

"Haha," laughed Fred punching his brother in the arm, "this means we don't have to worry about someone else finding it, cos we can just wipe it when we are finished."

Fred once again started bouncing up and down happily, this time with his brother joining in as well. Lee stood in the middle of the two and watched as they boogied around him, giving a slight shrug and grinning.

"Should we ask?" said Alicia from the far end of the corridor.

"I'm not sure," replied Angelina uncertainly next to her. They watched as the two boys pranced around blissfully unawares that they were being observed, "hey Charlie, are Fred and George ok?"

"Do you mean, in general or is there a specific reason for that question?" answered Charlie as he walked over to the girls, who responded by just pointing down the corridor to the twins who now seemed to be on there knees repeatedly bowing to a rather bemused looking Lee.

"So are you going to ask them what they are doing?"

"Not straight away, I don't want to disturb them," admitted Charlie, his eyes still fixed firmly on the spectacle in front of him, he called out of the corner of his mouth, "hey Miro."

"Yeah?" replied his friend joining Charlie and the two girls.

"You don't happen to have your camera on you do you?"

Armed with the knowledge of how to correctly operate the Marauders Map the twins were in a permanent good mood over the next few days, and were more then happy to give their fellow students a demonstration of 'The Weasley Shuffle' that had become immortalised in photographic form (copies of which are available in a range of sizes at a reasonable price. Please see Miro Franca to place your order).

Their nightly visits to the kitchen to collect food and drinks had further elevated the twin's social standings amongst Gryffindor House. Especially since they had started taking orders from the others.

"You know I think we might have to put a limit on the orders," groaned George from beneath an armful of cakes as he and Fred waddled uncertainly along one of the hidden corridors on the ground floor.

"I think you might be right," agreed Fred, barely managing to look over a particularly large scone, as he tried to adjust his grip on a bottle of pumpkin juice.

"Maybe we should start charging for delivery?"

"Now that's an idea…damn," Fred swore loudly as he misjudged a step and tripped on one of the flagstones sending his collection of goodies sprawling across the floor, the bottle of pumpkin juice smashed loudly on the ground soaking much of the food.

"Don't worry about it," consoled George, "with our bags filled as well as this stuff here, I think we have enough left over for everyone."

"Yeah I know," admitted Fred a bit crestfallen as he surveyed the carnage, "but I was really looking forward to that donut."

"I guess you'll have to make do with the dozen or so you put in your bag. Let's go, we'll come back and tidy it away tomorrow," George looked at the sceptical expression on his brother's face, "well it's the thought that counts."

George dumped about half of his things into Fred's arms and carried on towards the end of the corridor where a short cut would magically transport them up to the seventh floor just around the corner from the Fat Lady.

"Are you coming or what?" asked George turning back to look at his brother who was still standing in the exact same place with a puzzled look on his face.

"Can you hear that?" Fred turned his head to one side.

"Hear what?" George replied wandering back towards his brother.

"That."

"Actually I do," admitted George as he got closer, "it's like…"

"Running water," finished Fred, he looked down, "it's the pumpkin juice, I think it's dripping through to the next level."

"Well I'll be sure to mention it to the House-Elves next time I see one."

"Hang on," Fred dumped his food back into his brother's arms then pulled out the Marauders Map and his wand, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

George stood there, laden down and tapping his foot impatiently as his Fred turned the map around for him to see with a triumphant look on his face.

"What am I suppose to be looking for?"

"The room that is under this corridor," Fred said pointing at the parchment.

"But there isn't one."

"Exactly," replied Fred sporting a smug looking grin.

"Oh I see," admitted George a look of comprehension forming on his face, "so there isn't suppose to be anything under this floor but there must be because the pumpkin juice is dropping down somewhere."

"Yes," grinned Fred.

"And?"

"And what?" frowned Fred, "surely you want to find out where it leads? I mean if the Marauders didn't finda room there then I bet it has to lead somewhere good."

"Either that or they did find it and decided not to bother putting it on the map as it was a broom cupboard or something equally as useless."

"Ahh you are so cynical. Come on, help me lift this slab."

George placed his armful of food carefully on top of his and Fred's bags, which were now lent against the wall of the corridor, and lent forward to assist his brother in trying to move the large, wet flagstone.

"You know," groaned a red faced Fred, straining to move it, "I don't think it is going to budge."

"What gave you that impression?" asked George sarcastically as he tried to kick the slab, resulting in a stubbed toe.

"I'm not sure," replied Fred, sitting down on the floor leant up against the wall, "maybe I have some Seer blood in me. "

"Yeah because that is more likely to be true then you just being wrong."

"Well you have to admit the juice is draining somewhere," Fred pointed out as he pulled himself up by grabbing onto a statute of a knight.

"That is true but just because…HEY!" before George could finish his sentence he had dropped out of sight through a large trapdoor that had just sprung open under him.

"George? George!" Fred shouted down into the darkness, "are you ok?"

"Yeah," George's moan echoed up from below, "luckily something broke my fall."

"What?"

"The ground. Hang on," Fred could hear some rustling from the dark abyss before it suddenly flared into light, revealing a rather pained looking George on the stone floor below, his wand illuminating the room, "what happened?"

Fred looked around and his eyes fell on his hand. He had pulled himself up using the arm of statute but looking at it now he could see that the arm of the knight seemed to have dropped down a few inches. He gave an experimental tug on the arm, lifting it back into its original position.

"Hey," shouted George his voice muffled as the trapdoor slammed shut once again, completely camouflaging itself in with the rest of the floor.

Fred pulled down on the arm once again.

"Finished?" asked George from below.

"Yep," smiled Fred looking at his twin, "I'm coming down."

"Well I hope you land better then I did," winced George standing up, "I don't think I'll be able to sit down properly for a while."

"You should have used this," scolded Fred as he climbed down into the room using the very handy ladder attached to the side of the room.

"I'll remember that next time I fall through a trap door, 'always check to see if there is a ladder available before nearly paralysing yourself'."

"That's a good motto to have," said Fred dropping down off the last rung, "where are we?"

"Hopefully somewhere close to the hospital wing."

They were in a small room devoid of any distinguishing features aside from a few steps down leading into another dark alcove.

"Shall we?" asked Fred lighting the tip of his wand.

"By all means," agreed George waving his wand in the direction of the steps, "but this time why do you go first?"

"Fair enough."

Fred slowly walked forward his wand extended in front of him shining the light from the tip down the steps into the dark beyond. He carefully made his way down the small number of stairs putting his hand on the wall to steady himself as he bent low to get through the opening.

"Ugh," Fred wipe his hand on the back of his trousers, "it's filthy."

"I don't think anyone has been down here for a long time, well no one with a duster at least."

The twins slouched low as they progressed down the dark corridor, Fred's wand only managing to light a little way head. The passageway continued to narrow and shrink until the brothers had to crawl along on their hands and knees.

"Well I've got to admit," said George as he inched along behind his brother, "the view leaves a lot to be desired."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," mumbled Fred his wand stuck between his teeth.

Eventually, just as they thought they were going to be squeezed into a small rabbit hole, the passageway ended and led into a large cavernous room.

"Remind me why we are here," coughed George as he beat the dust and dirt off of his clothes, "and not up in our nice warm Common Room feasting on a large amount of sugary snacks."

"Because you, like me, have a sense of adventure."

"And I hope that you, like me, also have a sense of smell. Because I really don't want be enjoying this sensation all by myself."

"Ahh yeah," agreed Fred sniffing the air and giving a grimace, "it's a bit stale down here."

"A bit stale? Is that in the same way that Percy is a bit uptight?"

"Hey what's that?"

Fred pointed to the middle of the otherwise empty room where there was a small pillar with what looked like a box on it. Shrugging to each other the twins approached.

The wooden box was small, it would probably just about fit into one of the brother's palms, circular with four large holes cut into the side of it at equal points around the base. Engraved in front of the box on the stone pillar itself were the words: please do not remove.

"What do you think?" asked Fred already knowing the answer.

Rather then saying anything George reached forward and picked up the box. There were further words carved into the stone underneath, they said: would you like a surprise.

Before either of them could say anything a large nasty looking blade flipped up from the base of the pillar and flicked itself up between the twins. Both stumbled backwards in shock. The blade stuck out in the air for a few moments longer, just long enough for the twins so see that the words 'surprise' were engraved along the metal. Then it slowly slid back into place, hidden within the pattern of the pillar.

"Lucky we weren't standing in the middle," said Fred once he was able to get his breath back.

"Yeah," agreed George, "remind me, to ask mum for some chain-mail underwear for our birthday. For some reason the school didn't see fit to include it on the list of things we'd need for the year."

"We should probably get out of here in case there are any more surprises."

"Good idea," replied George stowing the box into his pocket.

The brothers quickly returned to the small hole that they had crawled through and began the uncomfortable edging along on their hands and knees once again. They had progressed enough along the passageway to be able to move up onto their feet, although they still had to stoop down low.

"What's that?" Fred stopped and listened.

"Now what?" asked George smacking his head off of the ceiling, "ouch."

"Shh. I think it's coming from behind us."

The boys waited in silence as they both listened to the strange sound coming from the back of them.

"It sounds like rain or a waterfall," commented Fred straining to hear.

"I don't think its water. I think…I think it's…" George's eyes opened wide in panic, "Fred run the passageway is caving in."

The twins ran as best as they could under the circumstances, their arms and head were buffeted off of the walls and ceiling alike as they sprinted along the corridor. The sound of the falling tunnel was catching up with them as they approached the light from the trapdoor room. With one final burst of speed the brothers exited out of the passageway, Fred having to dive the last few feet as the ceiling came crashing down.

George lent against the wall of the room, his back against the ladder as he doubled over trying to catch his breath. Fred was lying on the floor covered in the dust that had been blown out the tunnel as it caved in.

"Seriously," panted George taking the box out of his pocket and examining it, "how is this better then donuts?"

"Well you have to admit it's much more exciting."

"I dunno, a vanilla custard filling is quite adventurous," George frowned as he turned the box over, "here look at this."

Fred took the box from his brother and inspected the underneath, etched in the very centre of the box were the letters 'F P'.


	16. Boxing Day

"So you really reckon this belongs to Fenter Prevend?" asked Lee sceptically as he examined the box in his hand, carefully turning it over.

"Of course," beamed Fred taking a bite out of a cake, "how many other people do you know with the initials F and P?"

"About five," replied Lee after doing a quick mental count.

"He has a point Fred," said George who was sitting down rather gingerly in an armchair by the fire, "it could be anyone."

"I'm telling you it's Fenter Prevend," stated Fred firmly, taking the box back off Lee and looking at it again, "that room was very well hidden, for a start the entrance was in a secret passageway and don't forget that sword and the collapsing tunnel."

"Oh I won't forget them," winced George, "luckily I have some bruises to remind me."

"Ahh bruises will heal," dismissed Fred as he tried picking at a groove on the box's side, "treasure, fame and glory are eternal."

"Well I'm glad to see you are keeping a level head about it," replied Lee looking disappointedly at a squashed donut.

"Look, I'll bet you anything this belonged to Prevend."

"Oh yeah," replied George raising an eyebrow, "how about a million galleons?"

"I don't have a million galleons."

"Fine, how about just a galleon?"

"Er… I don't have a galleon."

"Fine, how about your eyebrows?"

"Er… sorry, what?" asked Fred frowning.

"Yeah," nodded George seriously, "if I am right, then you have to give me your eyebrows."

"And how exactly am I suppose to do that?"

"Shave them off," shrugged George, "or you could try and curse them off. Either way they are mine."

"Fine, but if I am right I get yours," stated Fred firmly.

"Fair enough," agreed George. They shook on the deal and Fred went back to fiddling with the box while Lee just shook his head at the fact that his two friends had just wagered body parts.

"Hey check this out," said Fred excitedly. He had worked his thumbnail under the groove in the box, and giving it a twist he had managed to flick up a small part of the wood. Lee and George leaned forward to take a look and could see a small keyhole on the side.

"Do you think we should…" started Lee but Fred had already answered the question before he could complete it, by taking out his wand and pointing it at the box.

"Alohomora," he whispered with bated breath.

Nothing happen.

"Did you do it right?" asked George as Fred tried it again.

"Yeah," sighed Fred, "I've got that spell pretty much nailed down. There must be another way to open it."

"There is," admitted Lee, "but I don't think we have a key."

"Ok, I meant there must be another way to open it without actually possessing the key."

"A hammer?"

"Honestly George," scolded Fred shaking his head, "we might end up breaking the treasure inside and then it won't be worth as much."

"That's if there is any treasure."

"Shh I'm trying to think," Fred frowned as he tried to wave the other two into silence.

"Ahh, well hopefully one day you'll manage it," smirked George.

"Do you recall any of those muggle stories that Dad reads?"

"Which ones?"

"I remember one of them," carried on Fred talking mainly to himself, "the guy breaks into a house and he uses something on the locks."

"Oh yeah," nodded George trying to remember, "I think it was a metal wire or something and he wiggles it around in the lock and forces it open."

"That's right," said Fred excitedly slapping his leg, "he uses a hair pin. Don't suppose either of you have one handy?" George and Lee just gave him a look, "Ok… point taken," he looked around the Common Room, "hey Angelina, how's that custard crème working out for you?"

Since her mouth was full Angelina just gave a contented looking thumbs up. Fred pushed himself up off the chair and wandered over to her. George and Lee watched him chatting quietly to Angelina, and obviously whatever he said to her must have been amusing since she nearly started choking and needed Alicia to give her a thump on her back.

"Got one," said Fred sitting back down and showing the other two a shiny hairpin.

"What did you say to her when you asked for it?" asked George as his brother picked up the box and started trying to pick it.

"I just said that you had left your make up kit at home so you didn't have your supply," Fred replied casually, sticking his tongue out the side of his mouth as he concentrated.

"Haha," Lee punched George on the shoulder as he laughed.

"I don't know what you are laughing about," said Fred twisting the pin back and forth, "I was actually talking to you there."

Fred's lock picking started off with furious gusto, he tweaked the wire this way and that, carefully listening to the box for any sort of sound that would indicate he was doing something right. After about half and hour his enthusiasm dipped slightly and he just tried working the lock methodically. By the time the hour got late and the three boys were the sole occupants of the Common Room Fred was just content with lazily wiggling the hairpin back and forth whilst George listed off all the things that he was going to do with Fred's eyebrows.

"Maybe I'll use them to fashion a fake moustache," he mused loudly causing his brother to snort derisorily, "or I'll stick them on Percy when he is asleep, giving him a monobrow. Or I could always…what was that?"

There was the faintest click from the box, which had stopped George in his ramblings. Fred looked up with a huge surprised grin on his face; removing the pin he held the box out on the palm of his hand majestically.

"Ha," he triumphantly pointed at George.

"Ha, nothing," dismissed George impatiently, "just cos it made a click doesn't prove it belongs to Prevend."

"No but once I open this," Fred lovingly caressed the top of the wooden box, "not only will we be worth a fortune but I shall also have your eyebrows as symbol of my success."

"We'll see."

Fred slowly pushed open the box.

"So will I be cursing off your eyebrows or just shaving them?" asked George smugly.

"But…" stammered Fred.

The box was now open in his hand, it was in two parts at right angles to each other, held together by a small hinge. The two compartments each had what looked like compasses in them except there were no indication of North or indeed any other points.

"Well done," congratulated Lee slapping him on the back, "instead of treasure you now have two broken compasses."

"But…" said a dejected Fred still looking forlornly at the open box.

"Neither of them of them are even pointing North," giggled Lee, "in fact that one is actually just pointing up a bit."

"Hang on, since when do you know where North is?" George asked frowning.

"Well you see that's the North Star out there," replied Lee pointing out of one of the large windows, then tapping the box, "and this is pointing over there."

"North Star?" George brow creased slightly as he looked out through the window, before feigning a look of disgust, "er…Lee? Have you been paying attention during Astronomy?"

"No," stammered Lee quickly as he slowly turned red, "ok I did but I did have a good reason for it."

"And that was?"

"I heard Angelina saying that she was really bad at Astronomy."

"So?"

"Well I figured that I could help her with her essays," Lee blushed even redder then the twin's hair, "you know late nights studying together in the Library."

"Ahh," smirked George, "you sly devil you, there is just one slight problem."

"And what's that?"

"You aren't any good at Astronomy."

"I know that," Lee said placing a hand on his chest, "you know that, Professor Sinistra knows that, but luckily Angelina doesn't. I just have to stay a bit ahead of her and I am laughing."

"You don't think that's a bit sneaky?"

"Well my choices are: be honest and single," Lee raised his hands up and mimed a set of scales, "or be sneaky and dating Angelina."

"So you are willing to be blatantly devious and underhand just to impress a girl?" asked George raising an eyebrow.

"Er…yeah."

"I'm so proud," George wiped away an imaginary tear, then looked up at his brother who was now slowly wandering around the Common Room staring at the box, "here, Fred would you just give up with that thing? I'll go and borrow Charlie's razor."

"Look at this," replied Fred looking down at the box, slowly motioning with it from left to right.

"What now?" sighed George as he and Lee stood up and walked over. They both examined the box, which Fred was continuing to move. As he shifted it's position from left to right the arrow on the bottom compass would oscillate back and forth, he then raised the box up and the arrow on the top part stopped pointing up and levelled out.

"So what?"

"What do you mean 'so what' George?" snorted Fred impatiently, "it's pointing at something."

"Yeah," admitted George, jabbing his finger in the direction of the compasses, "at the wall."

"I know that," replied Fred irritability, slowly walking forward towards the wall "but look at the exact spot they are pointing too."

George sighed deeply and decided that the easiest course of action would be to just humour his brother. He walked over to the wall and looked at it, he frowned slightly and examined the wall closely.

"Do you see it?" asked Fred smugly.

"See what?" asked Lee joining the twins at the wall, Fred tapped one of the bricks, which had at the very corner the letter F and P etched onto them.

"I don't know what you are looking so smug about," said George, "that doesn't prove it belongs to Prevend. All you have is a set of compasses that directs you towards a brick. Unless you are planning on building a house from scratch I can't see what you are so happy about."

"You know you are far too cynical sometimes," commented Fred, now examining the brickwork, "you could give Percy a run for his money. Ha!"

Fred turned to George and Lee and showed them a part of the brickwork, which he had managed to pull off of the wall.

"Ha, what?" asked George still a little shocked from the Percy comment, "now as you know I like nothing more then being a bit destructive, but pulling a bit of old brick away from the wall is hardly cause for celebration."

"Well by 'ha', "said Fred waving the piece of stone at his brother, "is that this piece was designed to come away from the wall, and if you'll notice it looks like it was designed to slot into the base of the box like this."

Sure enough the small slab of brick fitted easily into the base of the box. The slab in question was curved on the outside and ran around the edge of the box a quarter of the way around. As soon as Fred pushed it into place, the boys heard it give a little click and the two compasses suddenly began whirling around erratically eventually settling down and pointing in a new direction.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again," Fred commented smugly, "ha!"

"So?" replied George still unimpressed, "instead of a useless box, you now have a slightly heavier useless box."

"Look this thing isn't complete yet," sighed Fred showing his brother the three remaining empty slots to emphasise his point, "once we find the remaining slabs, then this'll all become clear and I shall celebrate by swimming in all the gold and treasure whilst you look at me all surprised. Or at least as surprised as you'll be able to without your eyebrows."

"Fine let's follow the compass then," George waved his hands as he gave up, "might as well see this through to the end."

"Right," smiled Fred looking down at the compasses, "well it looks like it's somewhere on this floor, but we'll have to head off around the school."

"No problem," replied George pulling out the Marauder's Map and activating it, "great, Filch looks like he is busy in the Trophy Room."

"Yeah and look," added Lee pointing at the parchment, "Mrs Norris is with him, so we should have a clear run."

"Well lead the way," George said to his brother giving him a theatrical bow.

"Don't mind if I do."

George and Lee, monitoring the map, slowly followed Fred and he led them through the school. He would occasionally pause as they turned a corner and the compass adjusted itself.

"I think it'll be at the end of this corridor," whispered Fred looking back at the other two, "er…you brought snacks?"

"Well yeah," replied Lee with a mouthful of teacake.

"Its hungry business all this sneaking around," added George taking a bite from his donut.

"I can't believe you two sometimes," Fred shook his head in disbelief, before casting a look at his brother, "I don't suppose…"

"Of course," replied George holding up a spare donut, "jam, your favourite."

"Cheers," thanked Fred stuffing the whole thing into his mouth in one go, "hmgh fo."

"What?" asked Lee frowning.

"He said 'lets go'," explained George, "when you get to know Fred as long as I have you'll eventually learn his stuffed face language. The easiest one is where his eyes bulge and he starts trying to slap his own back, that means he is choking."

"Hmm, good to know."

"Are you coming or what?" asked Fred having finally managed to swallow enough food so that he could be understood.

"Yeah yeah," dismissed George plodding along behind him, "keep your eyebrows on…well for now at least."

They reached the end of the corridor; in front of them was a large bronze statue of an eagle with its wings outstretched. As Fred approached, still waving the compass around, its eyes swivelled in their sockets, as it seemed to look at straight at him. Fred paused, unsure what to do, its large beak opened.

"Password?" it asked lazily.

"Er…Prevend?" replied Fred warily.

"That is an incorrect password," stated the statue before falling silent once more.

Fred looked back at George and Lee, who just shrugged and waved him on to try again.

"Fenter Prevend," Fred said turning the compass to show the statue that he had it.

"That is an incorrect password."

"Just try it one more time," said George nodding enthusiastically before elbowing Lee slightly who in turn added his encouragement, "but be a bit more forceful and maybe tell it exactly who you are. That'll help."

Fred pulled himself up to his full height, took a deep breath and puffed out his chest.

"I, Fred Weasley, with the aid of Fenter Prevend," Fred said pompously as he stuck out his hand holding the compass, "command you to let me pass."

There was a momentary pause and the statue slowly flapped its outstretched wings and lifted off the floor and moved aside to reveal a door that was slowly swinging open.

"Just required a bit of authority," explained Fred smugly looking back at the other two as he walked towards the opening.

"Ouch, watch where you are going," complained an older girl, with dirty blonde hair and a prefects badge pinned to her collar as she hopped up and down.

"Oh erm…sorry," apologised Fred stepping back into the corridor a little confused.

"Don't worry about it," replied the girl, gingerly testing her foot on the floor, "can I get someone for you?"

"Sorry, what?" asked Fred frowning, he looked back at the other two who seemed to be trying to stifle grins.

"Are you looking for someone in particular in Ravenclaw?" the girl asked, speaking very slowly using a voice normally reserved for the hard of hearing.

"In Ravenclaw?" replied Fred equally slowly.

"Yes."

"And you're from Ravenclaw?"

"That's right."

"Ok," nodded Fred, "and why exactly are you here?"

"Erm…" the girl frown and gave a look of help to George and Lee who just shrugged while grinning, "because this is Ravenclaw House."

"Let me get this straight," said Fred firmly with a frown etched on his face, "you're from Ravenclaw."

"As I said before, yes," replied the girl a little impatiently.

"And this is Ravenclaw House?"

"Yes."

"And the reason the statue moved was because you were coming out."

"Yes."

"Of Ravenclaw House," Fred clarified one more time.

"Yes, that's pretty much it."

"Oh, yes, well I guess that would explain it."

"Are you lost?" asked the girl looking rather concerned.

"No, no," replied Fred shaking his head, "just a bit of a misunderstanding. I was meeting someone out of my year here but obviously I have gotthe time wrong. We'll just be on our way."

A red faced Fred walked quickly back down the corridor, dragging George and Lee into his wake and leaving a very confused looking prefect behind.

"Oh by the way Fred," George fell into step next to his brother and pointed to a spot on the map, "I think that corridor led into Ravenclaw House."

"Thank you for being so up-to-date with your information," snapped Fred looking annoyed, "you don't think that you could have told me that a bit earlier? How about maybe before I made a complete idiot of myself?"

"Oh I could have done that, that's true," admitted George, "but for some reason it just completely slipped my mind."

"Git," said Fred punching his brother on the shoulder, "just remember you are suppose to be on my side. Especially if we are going to manage it."

"Manage what?"

"Sneaking into Ravenclaw House."


	17. Where Eagles Dare

"Look, we can't just sneak into Ravenclaw House," admitted George as they steppedinto the warmth of the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Why not?"

"Well there are three main reasons why we can't just waltz into Ravenclaw House and have a shufti around."

"And what are they?" asked Fred slumpingdown into a soft cushy beanbag.

"One," said George ticking off one of his fingers, "we don't have the password to get around that statue. Two, if we managed to get in then someone is bound to spot that we aren't Ravenclaws and probably throw us out straight away, and that's if we are lucky. And three, we don't have the password to get around that statue."

"Er…are points one and three the same?" asked Lee still standing as George flopped down into the beanbag next to his brother.

"Yes they are," admitted George looking up, "but it is such a bloody big and important point that I felt that it needed saying twice."

"All we need to do," said Fred leaning back smugly, "is hide near the statue so we can over hear any Ravenclaw giving the password."

"Ok fair enough," conceded George, "assuming we manage that, and they don't change the password in the mean time. How exactly will we get away with not being recognised?"

"Aha," smiled Fred knowingly, before turning to look up at Lee, "what exactly is it that you are doing tomorrow?

"Tomorrow? Oh…well I'm doing the commentating for," Lee grinned as he caught on, "Ravenclaw and Slytherin."

"So while everyone is out watching the match, we can sneak in and search for the next piece of the puzzle."

"I've got to admit you have covered off most of the problems," George nodded, and then raised up his hand, "however, what happens if some of the Ravenclaws don't go down to the game?"

"That won't happen," dismissed Fred shaking his head, "there is always a full crowd for every match."

"I know but you have to admit it is a possibility."

"Yeah I suppose it is," conceded Fred looking a bit glum. His face suddenly lit up, "it's easy. We just disguise ourselves as Ravenclaws."

"And how exactly are you going to do that?" asked Lee, "I'm assuming it'll be a much better plan then just holding up a sign that says 'yes I am in Ravenclaw'."

"Oh well, there goes my suggestion," admitted George.

"No, we just borrow some Ravenclaw scarves and we'll sneak in. Hopefully we'll be in and out of there so fast that anyone who does see us won't really notice us."

"Ok, that sounds good," nodded George.

"Then why do I get the impression that you are about to say a sentence that starts with the word 'but'."

"You are far too suspicious for your own good," scolded George wagging a finger at his brother, "but…don't glare at me like that, what I was going to say was; but it's not as if people won't recognise us."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we have hardly kept a low profile since we got here have we?"

"Ahh well I guess that is true."

"And on top of it, there aren't too many red headed twins floating around the place," added Lee.

"Hmm," Fred scratched his head as he thought hard, "what we need is away of disguising our appearance even further."

"As much as I would love to stay around and help out," yawned Lee stretching out his arms, "I'm gonna head to bed so I am nice and rested for tomorrow."

"Night mate," bade the twins as their friend headed off up the stairs.

"So any ideas how we are going to do it?" asked Fred turning back to his brother.

"There must be a way to change our appearance, I'm sure I have read something about it."

"Yeah me too, I'll ask Charlie tomorrow so see if he knows how."

"And I'll see if I can find what book it was in. What about the Ravenclaw scarves?"

"Easy," smiled Fred, "the Ravenclaw Quidditch team won't be needing them."

"You're going to steal them off the team while they play?" asked an amazed George.

"Borrow, George," corrected Fred, "the word is borrow."

Excitement rang through the school the next day, as it did whenever there was a Quidditch match being played, but even more so this time around as people were going to witness the new hand-picked Slytherin team. The usual rivalries were appearing around Hogwarts with the Hufflepuffs and Gryffendors coming down firmly on the side of Ravenclaw.

After a hearty breakfast Fred and George met up in the Common Room, to reveal how they had managed in their researching, but before either of them could speak Lee approached with a big grin plastered across his face and a small box in his hands.

"What is that?" asked George nodded down at the boxes.

"This is how you'll disguise your appearance," replied Lee giving the box a little shake.

"Really?" asked Fred excitedly leaning forward, "is it a bottle of Polyjuice Potion? Charlie said that's the best way to disguise yourself."

"Maybe it's instructions on the Disillutionment Charm," added George animatedly, "I read that it makes you look like your surroundings so you just blend in."

"Or maybe it's an invisibility cloak," Fred had a look of wonder on his face.

"Or the secret to being an Animagus."

"Er…no, it's none of them," admitted Lee frowning, as he open the box to show the twins the contents.

"Er… what is it?" puzzled George looking inside.

"Black shoe polish."

"Is it by chance magical black shoe polish?" asked Fred taking the small tin out of the box.

"Er…no," acknowledged Lee, "just the regular sort."

"So," said George scratching his head, "are we going to make our shoes so shiny that anyone looking would be blinded by the reflection thus not be able to identify us?

"No, it's a bit more straight forward then that. One of you is going to use it to dye your hair."

"Well as fun as that sounds," frowned George, "why would Fred want to do that?"

"Yeah," added Fred, "why would I want to…hang on why I am going to be the one to do it?"

"Because," Lee smiled pointing at George's red hair, "he, like you, has bright red hair, which is a bit of a giveaway. Plus if Fred goes in on his own, he'll be less suspicious compared to if both of you go in, even if you both dye your hair."

"Er…hello? I still don't think we have addressed the whole 'why I am going to do it' problem."

"Ahh," nodded George smiling, "I like the way you think there Lee, most ingenious."

"Oi," snorted Fred, slapping his brother across the arm with the back of his hand, "can we get back to the whole…"

"Look," rubbing his recently slapped arm, George turned to his brother, "you started us on this Prevend trail so you get to be the one who dyes his hair."

"Fine," sighed Fred looking warily at the shoe polish, "but next time, you're the one dying his hair."

"Bright pink if I need to. But this time it is all down to you."

"And what'll you be doing while I am sneaking around Ravenclaw House?"

"I'll be keeping watch," replied George taking the Marauders' Map out of his pocket and giving it a bit of a wave.

"Ok guys I'm heading off down to the pitch to get ready," Lee looked up and nodded a greeting to some other Gryffindors who had just come into the Common Room, before leaning in close and lowering his voice, "good luck."

Fred and George bade Lee a cheery goodbye as they turned back to planning the rest of the day.

"Ok, here's the plan," said George looking serious, "we head down to the changing rooms just as the match starts, then we sneak in and steal…"

"Ah?" Fred raised his finger.

"Sorry, then we _borrow_," corrected George emphasising the word, "a scarf for you, and peg it off to Ravenclaw tower for a look around. Not forgetting to stop off in front of a mirror for you so see what life is like as a brunette."

"Hmm," Fred frowned at the last part, "yeah that sounds about right."

Fred and George waited around in the Common Room for a bit longer as it started to fill up with people getting ready to trek down to the Quidditch Pitch. Soon a large crowd of Gryffindors began piling out through the portal, all excitedly chatting about the upcoming match, the twins filtered out behind them and followed the group down until they needed to peel off towards the changing rooms.

"Hang on," said George taking the map out of his pocket and tapping it with his wand, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

He examined the page quickly, his eyes flitting over the map as he sort out what he was looking for.

"Yeah it's clear. Mischief managed," George smiled at his brother as he folded up the map and stowed it away in his pocket and led the way down to the changing rooms.

"Nope this one is a bit frayed," Fred discarded the scarf and looked at the next pile of clothes.

"Look just grab one will you," scolded George as he kept lookout.

"Hey I'm not just going to wear someone else's hand-me-downs," replied Fred haughtily.

"Yeah I'd believe you more if you weren't currently wearing Bill's trousers, Charlie's jumper and Percy's shoes."

"Good point," admitted George before swiping the nearest scarf from its peg, and wrapped it around his neck, "lets go."

The headed back up into the main hall of the castle and used one of the shortcuts to quickly get up to the seventh floor. They rounded the corner of the corridor and the bronze eagle statue came into view.

"Right," said George firmly rubbing his hands together, "all we need to do now is change your hair colour and we are laughing. Although granted in this case I will specifically be laughing at you. "

"Oh no," replied Fred dramatically slapping his forehead with his palm, "I completely forgot to bring the shoe polish. Oh well I guess we don't have time to go back for it, I'd better just risk it without."

"That's ok brother," grinned George delving his hand into his pocket and pulling out the tin of shoe polish, "I saw that you had accidentally forgot to pick it up earlier so I grabbed it."

"You did?" replied Fred forlornly, "that is so considerate of you."

"I know," nodded George kindly, "especially since it had not only fallen off of your side cabinet but it had also somehow managed to wedge itself into an old pair of your socks and then it stuffed itself into the very back of your underwear drawer."

"Well fancy that," sighed Fred glumly taking the shoe polish out of his brother's hand. He opened the tin and looked down at the black paste, he suddenly looked up trying to stifle a grin, "I've just realised I don't have anyway of putting it in my hair. I'd look a bit funny turning up with black fingers."

"Oh yeah I suppose that is true," replied George giving a shrug, he then patted his pockets rather theatrically before putting his hand into his inside pocket, "oh would you look at that, I happen to have picked up comb as well. That was rather fortunate, wasn't it?"

"Git," Fred said simply. He took the comb, pushed it into the polish and raked it through his hair, causing it to slowly turn darker and darker with each stroke, "how does it look?"

"You need a bit more at the sides I think," answered George pointing to the still ginger parts of his brother's head, "there's a mirror over there."

Fred, with the aid of the mirror and George's comments of 'you missed a bit', eventually managed to cover his hair with the shoe polish, not only was it now black but it was slicked back tightly against his head. He adjusted the scarf around his neck and headed off down the corridor to the statue.

As Fred approached he stopped short of the bronze eagle and looked back down at his brother. Neither of the twins had managed to find out the password that would get them inside so they had worked out another plan. Fred was to get as close as he could to the statue and wait while George kept an eye on the map, when a Ravenclaw left the tower Fred would quickly nip in before the door closed.

"Come on," said George impatiently at the dots still loitering around inside the Ravenclaw Common Room, after a few moments the group started to move towards the door and he gave his brother a thumbs up to let him know to get ready.

Fred took a deep breath and waited. As the eagle sprung into life and flapped its wings he quickly moved around to hide behind it as the door swung open. A large group of Ravenclaws bundled out through the opening, all of them carrying flags and banners and excitedly talking about the upcoming encounter.

Fred slipped quietly out from behind the statue and snuck through the door and into the now empty Ravenclaw Common Room. The layout was exactly the same as Gryffindors, aside from the fact it was decorated in blue and silver instead of the customary red and gold. Along with the usual armchairs in front on the fire and soft squashy beanbags, was a table laden down with sweets and cakes, no doubt for the planned celebrations a win over Slytherin would entail.

Examining the room he gave it an appraising look before pulling the compass from his pocket and flipping it open. He waited patiently for the arrows to stop bouncing back and forth and he moved slowly in the direction they indicated.

Fred followed the arrows so intently he ended up smacking his head on the empty stone fireplace. Rubbing his forehead with his spare hand he lifted up the compass. The top arrow levelled out and he excitedly examined the brick it was pointing to.

There was nothing. No markings, no letters, nothing that made this particular brick different from the others. Fred stood for a few moments double-checking that he was looking at the correct part of the wall. His eyes drifted over the neighbouring stone and eventually the whole fireplace as he tried in vain to find anything out of the ordinary. He even took to running the tips of his fingers over the bricks to see if he could feel any etchings.

"Where are you?" he whispered to himself as he stepped back so his vision could take in the whole fireplace, "what am I missing? It's definitely the fireplace, but where on it? I've looked everywhere."

Fred looked from the compass back to the brickwork, frowning to himself he moved forward and ducked under the mantelpiece and stepped into the actual fireplace. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand.

"Lumos."

The wand sprang into the life illuminating the inside of the fireplace; Fred looked down at the compass and followed the two arrows.

"Wicked," beamed Fred as he located a brick on the inside and he traced the letters 'F' and 'P' with his finger before tugging at it.

The brick gave a little crunching sound as some of it came away in his hand. Fred smiled to himself as he slotted the piece of stone into the compass, causing the dials to spin wildly once again and settle in a new direction.

George tapped his foot impatiently as he watched his brother on the map.

"About time," he muttered impatiently as he saw Fred heading towards the portal, he chanced a quick look around the corner to see his twin emerging from Ravenclaw House. He pulled his wand out and wiped the map.

"Did you get it?"

"Piece of cake," replied Fred holding out a slice of cake.

"Er… thanks," frowned George taking a bite, "so did you get…ooo carrot cake, nice one."

"Thought you'd appreciate it. The Ravenclaws look to be having a celebratory feast after the match, so I didn't think they would mind me borrowing a couple of slices."

"Don't you mean 'stealing' in this instance?" commented George as the two of them started to drift off down the corridor.

"Need I remind you George," scolded Fred shaking his head, "that we don't 'steal' we 'borrow'?"

"Let me put it this way, do you ever intend to return the cake to Ravenclaw?"

Fred thought about this for a few seconds, "ahh well when you put it like that."

"Anyway, did you get it?"

"Dear brother," sighed Fred lifting the compass out of his pocket and opening it, "you should have more faith in me."

"Nice one," replied George looking at the bobbing arrows, "well two down…"

"Two to go."


	18. Sleeping Beauty

"Looks like wherever it is," George tapped his finger on one of the arrows, "it's below us."

"Yep, shall we?" asked Fred raising his eyebrows questioningly.

George looked at his brother who not only had black shoe polish in his hair, but whose face was now covered in black soot from the inside of the fireplace.

"You know I think we should."

The twins made their way down the main stairs, all the while consulting the compass to see if they were on the correct floor. It wasn't until they plodded off the final step that the top arrow swung away from its downward trajectory slightly while still pointing below them.

"I think it's down one more floor," said George looking at his brother.

"Yeah," agreed Fred nodding, "probably means it's in Hufflepuff House."

"I suppose that's logical, I mean the first two were in Houses so more then likely the other two will be."

Fred, compass held aloft, led the way through the same door that the brothers used to get to the kitchens. They passed through the corridor filled with portraits of food, including the one with the green pear in it, and on further into the school.

The boys' footsteps echoed loudly through the empty hallway, and seemed quite unnatural in the dark and quiet atmosphere. As they travelled along, the pictures of fruits and cakes soon disappeared and were replaced with portraits of trees, plants and herbs. Not only that but the twins noticed that there seemed to be more actual plants located down the hall. In fact when they turned one corner they saw the start of some ivy strewn across the top of the wall, which gradually became thicker and thicker as they progressed until the entire wall was obscured by the green leaves.

"Wait," whispered Fred staring between the compass and a section of the wall that was the most densely covered by the ivy, "I think it is through there."

"Try and push through it," encouraged George, nodding to his brother in support.

Fred held out a hand and went to feel through the thick vines. As his fingers approached a s think leafy stem shot out from the thicket and slapped his hand away.

"What the…?" A shocked Fred waved his hand in the air to try and relieve the stinging pain, he looked over at his brother who was trying to stifle a laugh, "oh very funny George, I'm guessing you know what this is?"

"Yeah," smiled George holding up the Marauders' Map, "I think that is the way into Hufflepuff, and this thing must be the guardian**."**

"So why did you get me to try and push through it if you knew it wouldn't let me?"

"I just wanted to see what it would do."

"Couldn't you have thought of a less painful way to do it?"

"Actually I did think of a pain free approach."

"And that was?"

"Simple, it was to get you to try it. See," George pointed to the back of Fred's slightly red hand, "it didn't hurt me a bit."

"Oh very clever," snorted Fred looking back at the green foliage, "so how do we get passed it?"

"Well I think I'll go for the same approach as with Ravenclaw."

"But the Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor game is weeks away," complained Fred, "do you honestly want to wait that long?"

"Hey if you can think of a way of sneaking in when there are people about then by all means I'll be up for it."

"Well I did think of an elaborate hoax involving an old sheet, some paint and some coconut shells."

"If you say anything along the lines of pretending to be some kind of ghost horseman I will have to slap you."

"Er… in that case,how about just really late at night?" asked Fred slowly moving his hand forward once again, snapping it back quickly as part of the ivy shook when he got too close.

"Fair enough," nodded George, "but you know one of these days we are going to have to get a full night'ssleep, I can't keep nodding off in Charms you know."

"Well just do what everyone else does and sleep during History of Magic," replied Fred finally giving up on tormenting the Hufflepuff guardian, "come on, lets go. I've got to wash this stuff out my hair."

"Hang on there are just two slight problems with the plan of returning here once everyone has gone to bed."

"And what are they?"

"Well first, we don't actually have the password and second…"

"We don't actually have the password," Fred cut in, "yeah, yeah I know. It's a bit of a problem."

"Not only that," added George, "but we can't hide behind anything and sneak in after a Hufflepuff opens the door, like we did last time. No matter where we hid they'd see us."

Fred looked up and down the corridor and his eyes fell onto a small alcove a small way from the entrance to the House, inside of which was a shiny suit of armour.

"Perfect," smiled Fred.

"Yeah I know," nodded George in agreement, "we polished those things well. Mum would be proud."

"No, you idiot. I mean that's where we will hide or at least you will."

"What behind that suit of armour? They'll spot me."

"Not behind it," Fred shook his head still smiling, "in it."

"In it? Did that shoe polish seep into your brain or something?"

"It's the only way to be close enough to hear the password without being seen. Then we can come back later and sneak in when everyone is in bed."

"Well how come I have to do it?" complained George.

"Oh I don't know," replied Fred hands on his hips, and rolling his eyes up towards his blackened hair.

"Fine," conceded George shaking his head,"let's go and you can wash that stuff out of your hair before it gives you any more bright ideas."

By the time Fred had come back into the Common Room, George had settled down in front of the fireplace and was in the process of building a card pyramid using his Exploding Snap collection.

"So you want to try Hufflepuff tonight?" asked Fred shaking his still damp hair a little.

"Shh," hissed George sharply not looking up from the cards, "I've nearly made a five story pyramid."

"Impressive," admitted Fred sitting carefully down opposite his brother, "I normally only manage about three stories before one of them explodes."

"God Fred," snorted George angrily.

"What? I didn't knock the table."

"No but you said the 'e' word, you might have well just cursed me," George carefully lifted two cards up to make the final tier, "almost… got… it."

Fred held his breath as his brother slowly moved the cards over the top of the pyramid. The cards lightly touched the top and the whole structure gave a slight shudder. George lent back in his chair with a big grin on his face as Fred exhaled loudly.

"Nice one bruv."

"It's all about having steady hands," replied George lifting his palms up.

BANG!

The cards scattered around the table as the force of one of them exploding flung them around the room.

"Remaining quiet as usual I see," called Miro striding through the portal, followed by a number of other Gryffindors.

"How did the game go?" asked George collecting up the cards from the floor.

"As much as I don't like him," replied Miro swinging his legs over an armchair and sliding down into it, "Snape did a good job picking his team, they ripped Ravenclaw apart. Three hundred and twenty to one hundred."

"Yeah but Gryffindor are still on course to win the Cup," frowned Fred.

"Yep," nodded Miro, "we just need a good score against Hufflepuff, and if Ravenclaw play the way they did today then it won't matter what Slytherin do they won't be able to catch us."

"That's good to know," admitted George placing the pile of cards on the table, which were immediately strewn around the floor again as another one exploded.

"I'm surprised you two are here," noted Charlie solemnly as he joined the group.

"How come?" asked George giving up with the cards as another one detonated in his hand.

"Cos of Lee."

"What about Lee?" frowned Fred leaning forward suddenly.

"You don't know what happened to Lee?"

"No we don't know," replied George urgently.

"I can't believe you don't know," said Charlie shaking his head, "can you Miro?"

"Good God no," admitted Miro giving a shrug, "I mean if I was them I'd want to know."

"Know what?" said Fred through gritted teeth.

"Chett, one of the Ravenclaw Chasers got barged into the commentators stand," explained Charlie.

"God, is Lee ok?" worried George.

"Yeah he should be," conceded Miro, "well after Madam Pomfrey checks him over."

"He had to go to the hospital wing?"

"Yeah Fred," nodded Charlie, "that's where they tend to take the unconscious people."

Minutes later the twins were barging through the doors of the hospital wing much to the annoyance of Madam Pomfrey who descended on them from her office.

"This is a place for relaxation and recuperation," she pointed out haughtily, "as such I do not tolerate loud noises or anything that is likely to agitate my patients. That entrance you just made violates both those rules, shall I get the list from my office for you to look over so you don't inadvertently break any others?"

"Sorry Madam Pomfrey," apologised Fred out of breath, "we just heard about Lee, is he ok."

The concern in his voice made the expression on Pompfrey's face soften.

"He's over there," she pointed to a bed down the room, where they could see their friend's prone body, "he's still unconscious but there isn't any permanent damage. He should wake up any minute."

"Is it ok if we see him?" asked George.

"Ok but only for a little while, if he wakes up, try not to over excite him," she added warningly.

"Well he's snoring so at least we know for definite that he is ok," pointed out Fred as they settled down in chairs either side of Lee's bed.

"That must be Chett over there," George nodded over at a bandaged student still wearing his Quidditch uniform, and being helped slowly out of the room by other members of the team, "doesn't seem as bad as Lee."

"Well," Fred pointed down at their friend, "he did have something soft to land on."

"Remember no Quidditch practice for at least a month," called Madam Pomfrey from her office as Chett left the room.

"Ugh," Lee moaned softly with a grimace on his face, causing the twins to look down at him.

"Lee mate, you ok?" asked George keeping his voice low.

"Yeah," croaked Lee slowly opening his eyes.

"At least you're awake," said Fred sitting down into a chair.

"Ow, I ache all over," grimaced Lee as he tried to sit up.

"I'm not surprised," admitted George.

"So who was winning the match?" Lee asked dropping his head back onto the pillow.

"It was Slytherin. Er… Lee," frowned George looking across at his brother, who gave him a puzzled look, "the game was over ages ago."

"It was?" groaned Lee rubbing his eyes, "God, how long was I out?"

"A while," replied George softly.

"Minutes? Hours? Days?" Lee gave a little laugh, "Weeks?"

"Try months," frowned George, as Fred subdued a grin.

"Months?" said Lee sharply.

"Yeah months," nodded Fred seriously, "nearly eighteen to be precise."

"Oh my God, I can't believe it."

"I know," replied George shaking his head, "I mean we just popped into see you after our last exams."

"You still checked up on me after all this time?" asked an amazed Lee.

"Yeah," admitted Fred, "we come in once a week like clockwork, can't have our best friend missing out on any of the going on in the school."

"I can't believe it's been eighteen months," Lee moaned glumly, lifting a hand to his head, "oh God, you don't think that they'll make me start over next year do you?"

"More then likely Lee," Fred said sombrely.

"You've missed loads of lessons," agreed George, whose face suddenly lit up with an idea, "look how about if we all go to Dumbledore and explain that Fred and I will bring you up to speed as much as we can over the summer and see if that'll be enough to let you start the third year with us."

"You'd do that?"

"Hey," Fred placed a caring hand on Lee's shoulder causing him to wince a bit, "oh sorry. What I was going to say was, hey, George and I take care of our friends."

"You guys are the best," complimented Lee smiling at his kind-hearted friends.

"Ah finally up I see," Madam Pompfrey bustled over to the three boys carrying a tray with a few small bottles on it, "well you have a few bruises and a bit of concussion. Just drink some of these and I'll keep an eye on you overnight and you should be back in your dormitory tomorrow."

"So you let me keep the same dorm room?"

"Well of course we did?" frowned Madam Pomfrey, suddenly worried that Lee had suffered a heavier blow to the head then she previously thought, "why would we make you change rooms?"

"Because I might be held back a year," pointed out Lee equally confused.

"And why would you be held back a year?" asked Pomfrey deeply concerned at her patient's obviously deterioration.

"Because of how long I have been unconscious."

"Well I hardly think being knocked out for half an hour is cause for being held back a year," she said kindly.

"Half an hour?" Lee asked slowly, as the twins' shoulders shook with silent laughter, "I was unconscious for half an hour?"

"Yes, that's right. My, you really did hit your head hard didn't you?"

Lee sat quickly up; ignoring the obviously pained resistance put up by his body, and stabbed an accusing finger at Fred and George.

"You…complete…" he stuttered, his finger shaking with rage, he finished off the sentence with a rather vulgar and highly inaccurate swear word.

"Mr Jordan," said Madam Pomfrey warningly as she measured out some doses from the bottles on the tray, "I shall put that use of language down to the fact that you have only just regained consciousness and are therefore not completely in control of your faculties. However I can only turn a deaf ear once. Besides you need to rest, and wasting energy by getting angry won't do you any good."

"Sorry Madam Pomfrey," he apologised before looking back at the twins, "you two are dead."

"Murder or any kind of revenge would also be considered wastes of energy," Pomfrey said coolly handing Lee a small glass of purple liquid to drink, before turning back to address Fred and George, "as for you two, I think that it would be best if you left."

"No problem Madam Pomfrey," Fred gave a little bow.

"Sorry Lee couldn't resist," waved George smiling, "don't worry we'll bring you some tasty cakes later."

"So what's the plan?" asked George rubbing his hands together as they left the Hospital Wing.

"Well lets go get you into a nice suit," grinned Fred.


	19. Suits you

"Ok, so how are we going to do this?" asked George as they left the Hospital Wing behind and turned down the corridor towards the main stairs.

"I thought we were perfectly clear on that," frowned Fred before marking off the points on his fingers, "you're going to get into the armour, overhear the password, then we'll pop by later on tonight and find the third piece. It's pretty straight forward."

"Yeah I got that part," George stopped in middle of the corridor and turned to his brother, "it's just that well, what happens if someone comes out of Hufflepuff House while I am getting into the armour? I might look a little bit… I dunno, suspicious maybe?"

"Oh yeah good point."

"Well I was bound to make one at some point.So what do we do?"

"I guess we'll have to wait until everyone is out of Hufflepuff House," admitted Fred scratching his head.

"You mean wait until their next Quidditch match?" George shook his head in disagreement, "we can't do that."

"I know I don't really want to wait that long either."

"No, I didn't mean it like that," George shook his head, "I meant that their next match is against us, and we can't miss that."

"Another good point, looks like you are on a bit of a roll. So when would everyone be out of the House?"

"During lessons I suppose," mused George shrugging, "or during meal times."

"Hmmm yeah lunch, that would probably be our best bet," Fred replied scratching his chin thoughtfully, "cos Charlie was telling me that some of the older students get free periods, and besides as much fun as it would be to sneak out of lessons we'd probably be missed."

"So what, you want me to stand outside Hufflepuff House, while you and everyone else swan off to get food?"

"Merlin's beard no," Fred assured his brother, "do you think I would leave you like that? I'll be waiting there keeping you company with the Marauders' Map. Then when it looks like someone is coming I'll scarper, you'll hear the password and then when it is safe I'll come back and get you out of the armour."

"Wait a minute, what do you mean 'when it is safe'?"

"You can't just whip off the armour then and there," explained Fred patiently, "someone might see you."

"So I could be stuck there for a while?" George complained, massaging his forehead.

"Only as long as necessary, think of it as taking one for the team."

"And which team is that?"

"Whatever team we decide to buy with the treasure."

The brothers carried on arguing over how long George would have to stay in the suit, all the way back to Gryffindor Tower and then continued to do so all the way up until people started filtering out for lunch.

"Let's go," whispered Fred quietly nodding down at the Marauders' Map, which showed an almost dot free Hufflepuff Common Room.

"Fine," grumbled George, whose own annoyance at the whole thing was mirrored by his stomach rumbling.

Following the crowd down the stairs the twins broke away as the others trailed into the Great Hall. A gorgeous aroma spilled out as the doors were pushed opened as the brothers pushed through the door down to the kitchen's and Hufflepuff House.

Fred gave a cheery nod to a passing Hufflepuff girl as they walked through the corridors and on towards their goal.

"Great," smiled Fred looking down at the map as they reached the start of the ivy spread over the walls, "I think it's more or less empty."

"Well which is it? More or less?" asked George impatiently.

"It's less. The Common Room is empty, that's the main thing."

"Er… I think I have thought of another problem," said George once they had reached the chosen suit of armour.

"Now what?"

"Well it's just that the suit seems a little big," George pointed out standing next to it to emphasis the matter.

"Oh yeah," replied Fred disappointedly, "still you could fit in it couldn't you?"

"Yeah, I could fit easily inside it but it won't exactly be comfortable."

"So you won't be able to see out, that's not too big of a problem is it?"

"Ok Fred, it's not if I can see out or not that is the problem."

"So what is?"

"Well," George explained slowly, "it's just that my legs are too short so my feet won't reach down all the way."

"Ok."

"And well that just means that I'll be just sort of dangling there."

"Right…."

"Ok, you don't get it," George lent forward and pointed at a certain part of the armour, "I mean I'll be dangling from _there_."

"Oh…OH," Fred's eyes lit up as he finally caught on, "yeah I can see how that might be a bit uncomfortable."

"Down right painful you mean," corrected George, "oh well, I guess that means we'll have to think of another way in. I wonder what I'll have for lunch?"

"Hang on," frowned Fred looking as though he was trying to remember something, "I've got it, come on we don't have much time."

George watched as his brother sprinted off down the corridor, sighing deeply as all nice thoughts of pork chops evaporated from his mind he broke into a run after him.

He eventually caught him up in the corridor outside the kitchen's where Fred was standing with a huge grin on his face. As George got closer his brother nodded to the alcove he was standing next to, inside it was a very small suit of armour.

"What is that?"

"Dwarf armour," explained Fred, "I noticed it the first time we came down here, but I didn't really think about it until now. That's the perfect size."

"Ok aren't people going to notice a new suit of armour, especially one this size?"

"Why would they? I mean you didn't even notice it until I pointed it out."

"True, but what if someone comes along while we are carrying the armour? Don't you think they would be a bit suspicious?"

"Yes they would but we won't be carrying this armour down the corridor."

"We won't?" asked George frowning.

"Nope, cos you will be wearing it."

"Ok," replied George slowly, "so rather then being suspicious about the two of us carrying a suit of armour, they will just be suspicious of me wearing it?"

"Aha no," smiled Fred waving the map at his brother, "you see I'll be keeping an eye on this and if it looks like someone is coming I'll let you know and you can stand up against the wall and pretend you are just like all the other suits of armour."

"You are aware that that is probably the stupidest plan I have ever heard."

"What about the home made racing broom we built?"

"No, you see that was a great plan, but there was just one thing we forgot when we thought of it."

"Which was?"

"That neither of us knew the first thing about how to make a racing broom. Well aside from painting it the right colour of course."

"True, red ones do go faster," nodded Fred sagely, "look it's the best plan we have at the moment."

"Fine," grumbled George, starting to take the armour apart, "you'd better help me into it then."

Fred eventually managed to get his brother into the armour, although it wasn't without a fair amount of pain and swearing on George's part.

"Ok I can't see a thing."

"Sorry George," replied Fred, twisting the helmet around, "had it on backwards, you know these things should come with labels or something."

"Cheers," thanked George looking out of the small slit in the metal, "not much of an improvement but at least I won't be bumping into too many things."

"Well no more then usual anyway," muttered Fred looking down at the map.

"What did you say?" asked George his voice echoing hollowly from within the suit, "I can't hear too good in this thing."

"I said that you look very feudal," explained Fred loudly,"it's clear for now but we had better get a move on, people will be finished their lunches soon."

"Merlin's beard," huffed George as he clanked along the corridor next to his brother,"they really didn't plan on speed when they made this thing."

"It's just because Dwarves are normally quite strong," reasoned Fred, frowning at the map, "damn someone's coming get up against the wall quickly."

George, with the help of his brother, stood to attention alongside the wall of the corridor after about half a minute or so, a hungry looking Hufflepuff boy came walking briskly around the corner. Fred began buffing the shoulder of the armour with his sleeve.

"Alright," nodded Fred cheerily to the oncoming student, "bloody Filch eh, I have to polish all these suits by hand, and he didn't even give me a cloth to do it."

"Rather you then me," smiled the stranger as he passed.

"Right coast is clear," whispered Fred, checking the map once more as the boy turned a corner, "let's go."

The going was slow but steady and without any further interruptions it wasn't long before George was standing in the alcove next to the full size suit of armour, which turnedits head as though it was examining the twins.

"Perfect," praised Fred as he moved his brother slightly so he matched up with the larger suit. Looking down at the map he could see that the dots had started to filter out of the Great Hall, "ok looks like people are coming, can you hear ok?"

"Yeah," replied George in a muted voice, "just as long as they don't whisper it I should be ok."

"Right, there is a room down the corridor, I'll be keeping an eye on you from there using the map. As soon as it is clear I'll come and get you, ok?"

"Ok, but next time I'm the one that's dying his hair and you are hefting the heavy armour around."

Fred sprinted down the corridor and into a room off of it. Shivering slightly in the cold empty room he sat down on at one of the desks and spread the map over the old wooden surface as he watched the small dots slowly approach the Hufflepuff Common Room.

George tried to see further down the corridor but without turning his head his view was solely of the bare wall in front of him. He could hear the murmuring chatter and echo of footfall approaching him from down the hallway. The torchlight in the dark passage way showed up the flickering shadows created by the group of students as they got close. George strained his hearing as much as he could.

"Good God, I'm stuffed," a light airy voice of a girl echoed down the hall, "I doubt I'll be able to move much for the rest of the afternoon."

"Yeah, watching a Quidditch match always makes me hungry," replied the low gruff voice of a boy, "oh hang on. Dactylorhiza… after you."

The low hum of voices came murmuring through the visor as the rest of the Hufflepuff students followed each other into the Common Room. George closed his eyes and muttered the password over and over to himself until it became emblazoned on his mind. He was so preoccupied he didn't even notice Fred was now not only standing in front of him but trying to get his attention, in the end he wrapped his knuckles against the helmet.

"Ow," complained George, his ears ringing from the sound, "do you mind?"

"Not particularly," replied Fred blowing cold air onto the back of his now sore hand, "come on, unless you want to stand there all night?"

"Well as fun as that sounds," George lifted one leg and swung himself into the corridor, "give us a hand."

George, with one arm swung over his brother's shoulder lopped unsteadily down the hallway to the room that his twin had been hiding in. Fred kept one eye on the map as he twisted the handle and pushed the door open for his brother to go through, with one finally look down the corridor he quietly shut closed it behind them.

CLANG!

Fred spun around quickly his heart in his mouth, he looked down to see his brother sprawled out on the floor in front of him.

"Er…a little help please," George said in a muffled voice from the ground.

"I know we are suppose to be keeping a low profile," admitted Fred helping his brother up, "but that's just being silly."

"Very funny," snorted George sarcastically, "it wasn't my fault, I slipped over and couldn't stop myself. Help me out of this will you."

Fred pulled of the helmet, revealing a red faced George with sweat running down his brow, and the brothers proceeded with removing the rest of the armour until a large pile was left in the centre of the room.

"Next time," puffed George as he placed the last piece onto the floor, "you're doing it."

"Don't worry," conceded Fred placing his hand over his heart, "the next time one of us needs to sneak into Hufflepuff House by dressing up in Dwarven armour, then I'll definitely do it."

"Yeah yeah. So what do you reckon, shall we go see if we can grab something to eat from the Great Hall?"

"Well I think that answers your question," replied George as his stomach grumbled loudly.

"Ok, lets go and get some well earned food…hey what's that sound?"

As the boys fell silent they could both hear a very distinct sound, it was as though someone had placed metal thimbles on their fingers and was drumming them against the wall. Looking wildly around the room Fred eventually managed to locate the source of the noise, elbowing his brother slightly he pointed down at the floor where one of the gloves from the armour was rapping it's fingers against the floor.

"Er…" Fred looked at his brother a little unsure what to do, "hello?"

The glove pushed itself back onto its palm and gave the brother a little wave with its fingers.

"Can we help you?" asked George frowning at the armour.

The glove pointed a finger at the pile of remaining pieces of armour.

"Er…" Fred shrugged at his brother.

"Oh I get it," nodded George, "you want us to put you back together."

The hand of metal gave him a thumbs up, and the brothers began rebuilding the armour to its former glory.

"There," Fred said finally smacking his hands together and rubbing them, "as good as new."

The suit of armour gave itself a quick look over before giving the brothers a nod of thanks and wandering out of the room and down the corridor.

"You know," said George as the door closed behind it, "in any other school that might have seemed a little bit weird."

The rest of the day ticked by slowly for the twins as they waited for everyone to go to sleep in Hufflepuff, they stayed up in the Common Room lent over a board of Wizard's Chess, occasionally they would take out the Marauders' Map and check to see if the coast was clear.

"Come on," complained Fred looking at the map, prodding the remaining dot on the parchment as through he was trying to physically push it out of the room.

"Who is it?" asked George yawning hard and rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands, "don't they know some of us want to get to bed?"

"Eleanor Dickson," replied Fred peering close to the page, "I think she one of the prefects."

"Really? Well she should know better then staying up late, what time is it now anyway?"

"Nearly two," Fred craned his neck to look at the clock above the fireplace, "it's your move by the way."

"Oh right," George dragged his eyes away from the map and stared down at the board intently. He furrowed his brow deeply after a few minutes and looked up at his twin, "how does the horsey move again?"

The hour hand of the clock gradually slid over the face of the clock as the fire died down until it was barely a pile of glowing embers.

"Get him, get him," ordered George standing up over the board as one of his bishops tried to batter a rook to pieces.

"Hey George," Fred said excitedly grabbing the parchment.

"Look just hit him on the…er…turrets."

"George," Fred punched his brother on the are to get his attention and lifted up the map while pointing to the now empty Common Room.

"Brilliant," exclaimed George grinning wildly, "might as well quit bothering with this."

George scooped up the pieces from the table and dumped them into the nearby box causing them to call out insults and general abuse as he covered them with the board.

"Ok," Fred said solemnly as they waited for the Fat Lady to swing open, "the place is empty but we should probably try and keep it down. You got the compass?"

"Right here," replied George patting his pocket before pointing out into the corridor, "lead the way Fred."

The twins moved swiftly but silently through the school, they traipsed down the stairs, and through the door next to the Great Hall.

"Evening," George nodded a welcome to the suit of Dwarven armour that gave them a wave as they passed by the secret entrance to the kitchens, "found your way back I see."

"Ready?" asked Fred as they stood next to the thick clump of ivy outside the Hufflepuff Common Room.

"Definitely."

"Er…George?"

"Yeah?"

"The password."

"Oh sorry," George cleared his throat, "Dactylorhiza."

There was a momentary pause which caused the twins to stared at each other and shrug. Suddenly the ivy split down the middle and parted, revealing a door slowly opening inward.

"Wicked," grinned Fred stepping through it and into Hufflepuff House.


	20. Things that go bump

George followed his twin through the opening and into the Common Room. It was much larger, compared to both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, but still contained similar chairs and beanbags. Along the walls were paintings of different plant life with the names of each species engraved on a small plaque at the bottom and as with the other Houses there were soft cushy armchairs that were pulled around in front of the, now dead, fireIn the middle of the room was a long oak table with benches pushed in underneath it, while there were many small tables dotted around the room which had small potted plants or flowers placed on them.

"Very homely," commented Fred looking around, "I dunno about all the yellow and black though."

"Yeah," agreed George casting an eye over the room, "makes me feel like we are inside a large bee."

"Ok, so where is it?"

"Well," George took out the compass and flipped it open, pointing it across to the far end of the room to a large wall with two doors on either side of it, "it's over there."

"Excellent," grinned Fred wandering down the room with George in tow and examining the wall intently, "well whereabouts?"

"Er…" George looked down uncertainly at the compass and gave it a little shake before pointing at a spot on the wall, "I think right there."

"But there isn't anything there?" pointed out Fred running his hand over the bare surface, "hang on, in Ravenclaw it was in the chimney, maybe it's just not in this room but the next one."

"I suppose," nodded Georgemoving the compass left and right, "I doubt they'd all be in the Common Rooms, we'll try that door, it seems to be on that side."

George pointed left at a large dark oak door. Shrugging Fred walked over to it and placed his fingers around the handle and twisted it slowly, pushing it open a slight crack.

"Oh," sagged Fred a little disappointed, "it's just a corridor."

"Actually," commented George turning his head as he looked between the two door, and then around the room, "I think those might be the dormitories."

"Great, I could do with a kip right about now."

"Er… Fred, what I meant was that, if the next part is in one of the rooms then well, it's going to be a little difficult to get."

"Why?" asked Fred distractedly as he pulled the door all the way open and peered into the passageway, which had several doors leading off along it.

"What if someone wakes up?"

"It'll be fine, besides we'll just be quiet and sneaky. We're good at quiet and sneaky."

"Ok you be quiet and I'll be sneaky," George pointed through the doorway.

"Why do I always have to be quiet?" complained Fred stepping over the threshold.

George followed his brother through holding the compass out in front. The twins slowly wandered along the stone floor gazing as the arrows slowly shifted position. They paused as they drew level with the third door.

"This one," whispered George, flicking his eyes up from the compass and nodding at the door.

Fred raised his finger to his lips as his other hand closed over the handle, and he gradually turned it. A low murmuring of snoring emanated from the dark room beyond, the brothers slipped in silently into the room and closed the door behind them, snuffing out the small amount of light from the hall.

The twins stood quietly at the entrance of the room and waited patiently for their eyes to adjust to the dark. When it did Fred looked around the room while George peered closely at the compass, and waved his brother towards the far end of the room.

They moved unsteadily through the room, treading carefully so as not to make any noise and disturb the sleeping occupants. Someone in one of the beds snorted loudly causing the brothers to freeze on the spot, their hearts in their throats, after a brief pause the regular sound of snoring began reverberating from the behind the curtains of the four poster bed and the brothers let out a low sigh of relief.

Fred reached the far wall and placed his hand on it to balance himself, turning back to his brother he mouthed, "where is it?"

George looked at the compass once again, then at the wall, he pointed up. Their vision wasn't good enough for them to see anything but bare wall from where they were standing. Looking around the room they discovered that there were no chairs for them to stand on to get a better view.

Fred pointed at one of the bed side cabinets but George shook his head and tapped the side of his ear and indicated the nearest sleeping body.

"Well what then?" Fred mouthed silently, to which George just responded by nodded at him and raising his eyebrows.

Fred nodded in agreement and gave his brother a thumb up to show he understood. George looked at the compass and lined himself up with the arrow, and the third piece was now directly above them on the wall. He closed the box and stowed it in his pocket and tipped his head at his brother. Fred stood in front of him leaning his back against the stone and cupping his hands together. George placed a foot into his brother's hand and pushed himself off the ground.

Fred grunted a little and gritted his teeth as he pushed his brother up onto his shoulders. George wobbled uncertainly, pressing his hands against the wall to steady himself. Once it had become apparent that his brother wasn't about to drop him he started to run his hand over the surface of the wall trying to find something other then the pattern of the brickwork.

Lifting his hands up, Fred placed them und the heels of his brother to stop his feet from digging into his shoulders so much. George exhaled frustratedly as his hands continued to pass over the stone without finding anything out of place.

"Hurry up," Fred ordered grimacing, "you aren't that light you know."

"Shh, I'm doing the best I can. It's not easy when you can't see a thing," George whispered harshly, then he paused, "hang on I think I've found something."

His fingers felt small groove etched into the stonework, trailing a forefinger over the lines he thought he could make out two letters. Moving his hand along the to the side of the particular brick he worked his nail under the edge of it. It came away slightly but still remained attached to the wall. Luckily it had moved enough for him to be able to get his fingers just under the lip, he gripped it as much as he could and pulled hard on it.

A small segment of the stone came away from the wall, but unfortunately George lost his balance and accidentally lent backwards are he tried to right himself.

"Careful," hissed Fred as he stepped away from the wall holding onto George's ankles as he attempted to keep his brother from falling.

"Steady," whispered George harshly as he tottered uncertainly in the air, "try and move back towards the wall so I can…"

He didn't get a chance to finish the sentence as at that point Fred lost his battle with balancing his brother and collapsed onto the floor with George dropping down on top of him. They both hit the ground loudly, smacking heavily off the floor.

"Hmph…wazzat?" a voice mumbled from one of the beds, George froze in a crouched position, as his brother remained prone on the floor. The curtain of the four-poster bed was being fumbled slightly.

George dropped down quickly as Fred grabbed hold of his top and they both rolled under the nearest bed. They lay next to each other, uncertainly trying to lookout from their position.

"Lumos."

Light bathed the room from one corner of the room, the twins could see someone's feet dropping down and touching the floor next to one of the beds. Whoever had got out of the bed was moving slowly around the room, and had approached the far wall where George had found the third piece for the compass. The light paused on the wall and slowly moved left and right as the wand owner seemed to be searching for the source of the noise.

George's gaze fell down and his heart almost leapt out of his mouth. He elbow his brother in the ribs, who flinched painfully and looked over at him. Fred's gaze followed where George pointed, just in front of the bed where the two of them had fallen was the third piece of stone.

Fred edged himself as far as he could without being seen. The light was slowly being trailed over the floor, it was getting closer and closer to the bed. Fred tensed himself and, heart pounding hard, he reached a hand out from under the bed.

George held his breath as he watched Fred's hand trying to get the stone piece. It was just within fingertip range. Fred's nails dragged over the surface of the stone as he tried to get a grip on it. The wand light illuminated the bottom of the bed and gradually moved towards Fred's hand, just as it reached the stone tablet his fingers managed to close around it and he pulled his prize under the bed as the light passed over the now empty patch of floor.

Fred let out a long sigh of relief as he looked sideways at his brother, but rather then the expected grin George still wide eyed nodded back towards the light. The Hufflepuff student had moved over towards them and was standing right next to the bed, slowly tracing the light back and forth across the edge of the bed. The twins could see the shadow of person lean forward, he was about to look under the bed.

George gripped his brother as they both tensed.

"Arghh!"

The twins flinched as the occupant of the bed woke the rest of the room with his scream.

"Cedric," demanded the voice, "what are you doing? You scared me to pieces."

"Hey, what's going on?" asked another voice from one of the other beds.

"I think Ced was sleepwalking."

"I wasn't sleepwalking," corrected Cedric, "I thought I heard something."

"Er…you thought you heard something?" asked the occupant of the bed, "In this school? You're kidding right? You are aware that could be anything."

"True," agreed another voice, "Peeves, Mrs Norris, the Friar, some sleepwalking student, take your pick."

"I guess," admitted Cedric, "but I wasn't sleepwalking."

"Sure, sure. People get up all the time in the night and just wander around for no reason."

Cedric continued to grumble all the way back into bed.

"Night guys. Nox," the place went dark once again.

"Night Ced," chorused the room.

"Oh by the way, Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"Nice scream back there, very manly," laughed Cedric.

The twins waited in silence for what seemed an age, it wasn't until they could heard the distinct sound of snoring emanating from the beds once again before they allowed themselves to start breathing normally once more. They lingered under the bed for a bit longer until they were certain that everyone had dropped into a deep heavy sleep.

Fred tapped his brother on the side and nodded to the door before slowly and quietly crawling out from under the bed, pressing his fingers to his lips he waved George out of the room. It was only after they had closed the door firmly behind themselves and were standing safely in the corridor that they began to breathe properly once again.

"That was close," admitted Fred leaning against a wall.

"Yeah I know," agreed George, fishing the compass out of his pocket, "here give us the piece."

Fred handed over the stone and George attached it into the slot. The arrows on the compass span around once again before settling into their new direction.

"Down," Fred commented looking at the compass, "I guess that means the dungeons."

"So that'll be Slytherin House then."

"Yeah, but honestly how hard could that be?"

Fred and George headed off out of the Hufflepuff Common, down the long corridor, past the kitchens and their new metal friend and up the stairs to their dormitories. They practically fell asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows. They probably would have stayed in bed all of the next day had it not been for someone waking them up.

"Lee, for God sake stop hitting me with that pillow," ordered George as he shielded his face.

"Eighteen months," panted Lee as he paused with his pillow held up over his head once again, "you had me believing I was unconscious for eighteen months."

"Yeah, but Lee," interrupted George as he held his arms warily up protecting himself.

"But what?"

"You've got to admit, it was funny," grinned George pointing at his friend, who tried his best to stifle his own smirk.

"That's not the point," Lee raised the pillow once again.

"Ahh if you hit me again I won't tell you our news."

"What news?" asked Lee frowning suspiciously but lowering his weapon slightly.

"Simple," yawned Fred who had been woken up by all the commotion, "three down, one to go."

"Really?" asked Lee, now wide eyed with excitement, all thoughts of revenge slowly disappearing.

"Yep," Fred sat up in bed, his hair completely disheveled, "got it last night from Hufflepuff House."

The twins brought their friend up to speed with the previous night's excursion, it probably would have been quicker if it hadn't been for their tendency to interrupt the other mid sentence to carry on the story.

"Brilliant," exclaimed Lee after the twins eventually managed to complete the whole story, he lent back on one of the posts of the bed shaking his head, "I can't believe you got away with it."

"Yeah I know," agreed Fred nodding, "luckily I kept my cool."

"Your cool?" snorted George leaning up on his elbows, "I swear I could hear your heart thumping away you were that nervous."

"Oh and I suppose you were all calm and collected were you?

"Me?" George pointed at himself and raised his eyebrows, "I had it all under control before you started panicking."

"Lee, can I borrow that for a moment?" Fred put his hand out, took the pillow from his friend and proceeded to batter his brother with it, who in turn managed a few swings with his own. Lee was laughing at the pair so hard he didn't notice a wayward pillow until it connected with his head and soon he too had joined in the melee.

"Ahem."

The boys paused and looked over in the direction of the cough.

"I'm glad to see you guys had a good reason for not making breakfast this morning," said Charlie from the doorway, staring at the boys who had frozen in mid attack.

"Well you know us Charlie, places to go, people to see …" started Fred but was abruptly interrupted as George took the opportunity of the lowered defence to strike a blow with his pillow.

"…targets to hit," added George remembering to shield himself from any retaliation, "so how come you are checking up on us?"

"Owl post," Charlie replied simply tossing a large brown package at George who caught it in both his hands, unfortunately for him this meant giving Fred the opening he was looking for and he promptly got a face full of pillow for his troubles, "here Lee, I grabbed your post as well."

"Nice one, cheers," thanked Lee catching the small box in one hand while still having the forethought to duck in time just as two wayward pillows swished through the air where his head would have been.

"Mum wants to know if you two are planning on staying here over the Easter holidays," Charlie waved a wad of paper at them that looked filled with small neat writing.

"Are you staying?" asked Fred using his spare hand to batter away George and Lee's attacks.

"Yeah, most of my year are sticking around," Charlie shrugged, "with the exams piling up we plan to get a fair bit of work done during that time."

"Wait a minute," said Lee stepping away from the bed so he was out of range of the twins, "you're going to be working during a holiday?"

"Sadly yes," nodded Charlie looking a bit glum, "when you are NEWT students you don't get a lot of free time."

"Ah I'm sure that's wrong," replied George leaning out of the bed to try and swat Lee, completely forgetting his exposed back which received a sound thump from his brother.

"Yeah I bet we'll have loads of free time," agreed Fred trying to pull his pillow back from George who had grabbed hold of it with one hand and was attempting to wrench it free.

"Well I'll let you three carry on with your busy schedule," Charlie waved them goodbye just as George let go of the pillow sending Fred sprawling onto the ground.

"See…" George's farewell became muffled under the weight of Lee's pillow. He dragged it off his face and held up his hands in surrender, "ok let's call a truce. Just put down the pillows and step away. And we can all sit down and think about more important matters."

"Fair enough," agreed Lee, who made no attempt to disarm himself but backed away, carefully keeping both twins in eyesight.

"Yep," agreed Fred dusting himself off after getting back up, "like when shall we try and get into Slytherin House."

"I think we should get it done as soon as possible," George ventured, propping his pillow behind his back, "I mean there isn't any reason to wait, we'll just do it like we did the other two Houses."

"Ok but there is one very important thing that you seem to have forgotten," frowned Fred leaning into the bed.

"And what's that?"

"We are still armed," grinned Fred as he and Lee both swung their pillows at the undefended George.


	21. Deep in the shadows

"So what's the plan?" asked Lee as the three boys grabbed their bags and headed for their Transfiguration lesson.

"Well I don't know about you," replied George attempting to fix his tie as they left to room, "but I think we should just stick to what we have been doing. Just try to over hear the password and then sneak in when the place is empty."

"Nice and simple," nodded Fred smoothing down his hair as they plodded through the Common Room.

"Exactly," agreed George.

"Actually I was talking about you," admitted Fred waving the other two through the portal, "but the plan is good too."

"You're such a pleb sometimes," George shook his head, "so when shall we do it?"

"How about during the break after Transfiguration?" ventured Lee as they began traipsing down the stairs.

"You mean try sneaking into Slytherin in the middle of the day?" asked Fred amazed, "you must have got a harder hit to the head then Madam Pomfrey thought."

"No, I don't mean we sneak in during the break," clarified Lee as he waved hello to one of the ghosts, "I mean we just check out the entrance way, and work out where we'll hide and stuff to find out the password."

"Ahh well that makes more sense."

The boys filtered into the classroom and sat together in a long line right at the back. Other students had already filled most of the other seats and McGonagal surveyed everyone closely from the far end of the hall. When the last remaining pupil took their seat she wrapped the blackboard with her wand causing those people who still hadn't woken up fully to suddenly jump at the sound.

"So much for a quite lesson to nap in," whispered Fred.

After the class a great hum of conversation followed the twins and Lee out of the room; they walked briskly down the corridor, not stopping until they were back at the main entranceway to the school. They huddled together at the side of the wall as the other students headed off for break in the cool morning air.

"Ok," whispered Fred looking around in case anyone was listening in, "let's head down to Slytherin House and see if there is any spot we could hide to overhear the password."

George led the way down into the dungeons towards the House, to keep up the pretence that they were just out for a bit of a stroll around the school they chatted about the upcoming Gryffindor match against Hufflepuff.

"It's no contest," said Lee, who was probably the most knowledgeable person on Quidditch that either of the twins had ever met, "Hufflepuff got flattened by Ravenclaw in their first match, their Chasers don't work well together and if they do manage to get a shot on goal they'll never beat Wood."

"Yeah but what about their new Seeker, Sebastian something or other?" asked George as the three of them began twisting and turning through the labyrinth of passages under the school, "I doubt he'll be as good as Charlie but I haven't seen him play yet."

"Sebastian Coyle? I saw him fly a bit at the end of one of their practices last week," admitted Lee, as Fred, who was using the map to guide them, pointed them down one of the corridors, "he's good, much better then their last one. Edwards was awful against Ravenclaw."

"I dunno," differed Fred flicking his eyes up from the map, "from a comedy point of view I quite liked him."

"True," agreed George peering down one of the dark passageways as they passed it, "I don't think I have ever seen a Seeker manage to not only miss grabbing the Snitch but also managed to knock out his own Keeper at that same time."

"Yeah," nodded Lee, his dreadlocks bouncing back and forth, "shame he ain't playing."

"Ok it should be right ahead," interrupted Fred examining the map, "lucky we had this, I doubt we'd have been able to find it otherwise."

"Yeah, I can't imagine any Slytherin offering to give us directions."

"Er… so where is it?" asked Lee.

The dark passageways leading through the dungeon were not only quite narrow compared to the rest of the corridors around the school, but were also fairly low down and gave an unnerving feeling of being enclosed. Furthermore, there were no paintings or decorations in the dungeons, just bare walls, the dim flicker of the odd torch and cold stone floors.

"It should be right here," said Fred pointing at a patch of wall, which was exactly identical to the rest of the network of corridors that they had passed through in the last few minutes.

"Shouldn't there be a guardian or something?" wondered Lee, his voice echoing uneasily.

"Maybe this whole maze is the guardian," ventured George waving his hand around, "I mean you can't sneak into somewhere if you can't find it can you."

"True," nodded Fred, he gave the map a little rustle, "but they obviously didn't reckon on this thing. Well at least that is one thing, we don't have to get passed any guardian this time."

"But how are we going to find out the password? There isn't anything for us to hide behind if we want to try and overhear it."

"Ahh that's just one small detail," dismissed Fred.

"Er… Fred I noticed you used the word 'small' there, when you should have used the words 'bloody important'," corrected George.

"Look relax ok," soothed Fred pressing the map against the wall and smoothing it out, "we are here, if we hide around this corner we should be able to hear the password."

"It's a bit far away isn't it?"

"Trust me brother, these passageways are pretty echoy so I think we'll be able to catch it if we listen hard."

"Well we'll be able to find out in a minute," said Lee tapping a finger on the parchment, a small group of dots were heading towards them. The three looked down the long corridor and could see the dark shadows of the Slytherins being cast against the floor from around the corner.

"Move," whispered Fred heading off down the corridor away from the interlopers, closely followed by the other two.

They waited patiently; Fred held the map out in front of him while George and Lee crowded around to get a good look. They watched, as the dots got closer to the entranceway of Slytherin House, and poked their heads slightly around the corner to see if they could hear the mumbled password. They heard nothing, just a hushed murmuring before the door slide open allowing the students inside.

"So now what?" asked Lee as he ducked back around the corner.

"I dunno," admitted Fred looking puzzled, "maybe those guys just spoke quietly, we could wait and see if another group, you know, were louder."

"I doubt that'll happened," frowned George still looking down the corridor, "here give me the map."

Fred handed over the parchment, which still showed the whole school populated by the tiny dots. George examined it closely while the other two stared at him expectantly.

"Well?" asked Fred growing impatient.

"Oh, I just noticed something about the portal," replied George casually still pouring over the map.

"And are you gonna tell us or what?" said Lee prodding him in the shoulder with his finger.

"Well it seemed to take a while to close, so I reckon I could peg it down after it opened and jam something in it to stop it from shutting."

"Yeah but we can't just wander in now," admitted Lee "it's the middle of the day, I think someone might spot us."

"I wasn't going to just go ahead and strut into their Common Room," scolded George, "I just want to know if it is possible, if it is then we can work on a proper plan later on."

"Ahh," nodded Fred in understanding, he lent forward and tapped on the parchment which showed a lone Slytherin heading towards the House, "well, it looks like you'll have your chance in a minute."

"Piece of cake," grinned George, making a show of stretching out his legs.

"Since when have you been good at running?" asked Lee as George began shaking each of his legs in turn.

"Oh we have always been keen followers of all healthy outdoor pursuits," replied George taking a quick look at the map before carrying on with his warm up.

"Really?" Lee raised a sceptical eyebrow and look from one twin to the other.

"Believe me," said Fred chancing a look down the hallway before turning back to his friend, "when you have a mum like ours yousoon learn to move it sharply."

"Yeah," agreed George, "you wouldn't believe the amount of things she thinks we get up to, over the years we have found it is much easier to explain it wasn't our fault from a great distance away."

"We're pretty good at climbing trees as well," added Fred, he nodded at his brothers feet, "you should take your shoes off, otherwise they'll be able to hear them slapping against the floor."

"Good idea," said George pulling off his shoes and socks, "Merlin's beard the floor is cold."

"I guess when they built this place they didn't think that a first year would need to run around bare feet on the floors trying to sneak into one of the Houses."

"Well then that was just poor planning on their part Lee," replied George hopping from one foot to the other.

"Get ready," said Fred looking at the map.

George craned his neck around the corner and watched as the student stopped at the entranceway and mumbled the password, as soon as he stepped inside the Weasley twin broke into a sprint down the passageway, pumping his legs hard as his feet smacked against the cold stone. He skidded abruptly to a halt and gasping hard he walked briskly back towards the other two.

"How close did you get?" asked Lee as George lent against a wall to catch his breath.

"Nowhere near close enough," admitted George as he slipped his feet back into his shoes and socks, "maybe if I had a broom or something."

"First years aren't allowed brooms remember?" reminded Fred looking glum.

"What if we asked Charlie if we could borrow his?" asked George grateful that he no longer had to step on the cold floor.

"I doubt he'd let us," admitted Fred, "unless we told him what we wanted it for."

"Well we could always just lie," ventured Lee, pointing out the obvious.

"Sadly Charlie has somehow managed to learn when we are lying," replied Fred shaking his head.

"Yeah he said it was whenever our lips moved."

"Any more ideas guys?" asked Fred, looking back at the map, "I think there is another group about to approach."

"I have one," Lee said excitedly routing through his bag, eventually pulling out a pack of Exploding Snap cards and running off down the corridor.

"You know I think he might have been hit a bit harder on the head then Madam Pomfrey realised," commented George as he looked at his equally puzzled brother.

Moments later Lee appeared back around the corner with a look of smug satisfaction on his face.

"So what did you do?" asked Fred.

"Wait and see," commented Lee looking down the corridor as a group of Slytherin students came wandering down it.

The brothers joined Lee in glancing down the passageway and waited, although not quite sure what to expect. One of the group gave the password and they all filtered into the Common Room.

"Let's go," said Lee taking a quick look at the map before walking quickly towards the entranceway, he paused when he got there and smiled across at the twins who had joined him and pointed down at the floor: jamming the door open was the packet of cards. Leaning down Lee grabbed the cards and twisted them, pulling them back up and letting the door finally close.

"I don't get it what did you do?" asked Fred frowning.

"Easy," smiled Lee holding up the cards, "I lent this against the wall, so when the door slid open it fell down on the floor and wedged the it open when it tried to close."

"Brilliant," whispered George, "how did you know it would work?"

"Well there is no guardian to check if the door is closed properly," pointed out Lee pushing the cards back into his bag, "I doubt any student would check that either, I mean I never do, and plus it's a bit dark in these passageways so they wouldn't notice the cards leaning against the opening."

"Ok so that takes care of how we get in," said George as they slowly wandered back up towards the main part of the school, "but how do we make sure that whoever trips the cards is the last person in, cos if anyone else came along they would see that the door was jammed open."

"Yeah good point. This way," nodded Fred checking the map, "how about on Wednesday night after Astronomy?"

"Good idea," agreed Lee, "our class are generally the last ones around after that lesson, we can just run down ahead of the Slytherins, set the pack in place and then come back when everyone is asleep."

"And you were worried that it would be difficult," scolded George as they worked their way out of the labyrinth that was the dungeons.

The boys were distracted for the rest of the day and in fact through most of their lessons until Wednesday came around, although their tendency to daydream through most their classes anyway meant that the teachers didn't really notice much of a difference in their behaviour.

"Ok guys," whispered Lee as he sidled over to the twins, pretending to check the coordinates of Mars so Professor Sinistra wouldn't become suspicious, "we'll have to clear up quickly to get out ahead of the Slytherin lot."

"No problem," replied George looking through the telescope, "we'll be out of here in a flash as soon as the lesson is over."

"Besides," said Fred in a low voice, "I suspect that there may be a bit of a distraction at the end of the lesson with the Slytherins."

"And how do you know that?"

"Well for a start we tied Bickerstaff's bag to a table leg," pointed out George.

"Not to mention one of Mungra's shoelaces around her chair leg," added Fred.

"How did you manage that?" asked an amazed Lee

"Did you notice the amount of equipment we kept accidentally dropping around the place?" whispered George raising his eyebrows.

"You didn't honestly think that we were that clumsy did you?"

"Well… yeah," replied Lee.

"Oh," frowned Fred deflated, "well not this time we weren't, it was all deliberate."

"Yeah, yeah I'm sure," dismissed Lee waving his hand, "look I better get back to my telescope. Talk to you after the lesson."

When the lesson finally drew to a close, Lee and the twins were quick to pack away their equipment. Most of the other students were still yawning and rubbing their eyes as the three boys threw their bags on their backs and ran from the room.

As they bounded down the stairs for the Astronomy Tower two steps at a time, they could hear an almighty crash from the room above them, followed by raised voices. George gave out a triumphant laugh and punched the air as they spiralled down the stairs, and towards the dungeons.

Lee stopped abruptly as they entered the dark passage and came to the first junction. George almost barrelled into him but luckily managed to stop himself in time. Fred however was not so fortunate and was still looking back over his shoulder when he barged into his brother and friend.

"Cheers," thanked Lee as Fred helped him back up.

"No problem," grunted Fred heaving on this brothers arm, "why did you stop?"

"I couldn't remember where to go," admitted Lee sheepishly.

"Honestly," sighed Fred shaking his head, "it's that…er… no wait I think we carry on going…"

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," George paused as he looked at the map, he pointed up one of the corridors, "that way."

They moved swiftly through the dark passageways under the school and it wasn't long before they were standing in front of the doorway into Slytherin House.

"Ok set up the cards," George nodded at Lee while Fred kept watch using the map.

"No problem," Lee flipped his bag off of his shoulder and rummaged around in it before pulling out his prize and bending down onto one knee, "there. Let's go."

Lee lead the twins around the corner and they waited patiently for the Slytherin first years to arrive.

"Here they come," whispered Fred nodding at the dots on the page.

The three of them waited in silence as they watched the dots get closer and closer to the entranceway. Lee glanced around the corner and watched as they group of students congregated outside the hidden door and waited for it to open after one of them had given the password. He held his breath as the doorway slid open and light from the Common Room shined into the dimly lit corridor. The group piled through the opening and the door slid shut leaving a small beam of light as the cards wedged it open.

"Wicked," sighed Lee grinning at the other two.

"Perfect," acknowleged George rubbing his hands together, "ok, we head back up stairs for a bit of relaxing in front of the fire…"

"…then wait until their Common Room empties out," added Fred, as they quietly walked back down the corridor, "and then…"

"…we all head back here for a look around Slytherin House," finished Lee having a quick look through the gap in the door and into the Common Room.

"You guys are a bit late back," pointed out Charlie from one of the comfy chairs by the fire, as the three boys stepped back into their own House.

"Well that's because we offered to help tidy the stuff away," answered Fred completely innocently.

"Ha," snorted Miro derisively from another armchair.

"Ok, we were made to stay back and help tidy the stuff away."

"That sounds more like it," nodded Charlie.

"Yep, they certainly take after you," smirked Miro as the three boys plonked themselves down into spare chairs.

"Oh really?" asked Fred eagerly.

"You know I don't think they'd really want to hear anything about that," Charlie said warningly.

"It's ok," admitted George settling into his seat, "we love hearing any stuff about our brothers."

"Especially if it means we can use it for blackmail," added Fred.

"Well there was this one time in our first year…"

The twins and Lee spent the next half hour or so listening to story after story about their older brother's exploits during his earlier years at Hogwarts. Charlie, having had enough barbed comments, retired off to bed halfway through the story telling, leaving just the four boys and the crackling fire place.

"…and for that he ended up in the Hospital Wing for two weeks and losing twenty points for Gryffindor," laughed Miro slapping his knee.

"Brilliant," smiled George, "we'll have to remember to brings these stories up with Charlie."

"We'll wait for the best time to do so of course," added Fred.

"Yeah," nodded George in agreement, "like say during our first meal back home in the Summer…"

"…or that family reunion dad's planning…"

"…or when mum is about to have a go at us for some reason."

"Ooo that's a much better idea George," grinned Fred, "like when we have to tell her our end of year exam marks, that'll be a good time to distract her."

"Well," yawned Miro stretching out his arms, "I'm gonna head off to bed, night guys."

"Night," chorus Lee and the twins.

As Miro disappeared off to bed, Fred was already pulling out the map and activating it. He grinned and looked up at the other two, who immediately stood up ready to go, leaving their bags in the Common Room as they headed off down to Slytherin House. George returned a few moments later to retrieve the compass from his bag.

"Ok," whispered Lee as they approached Slytherin House, they could see the faint beam of light emanating from the Common Room spilling out into the corridor, "once we get it, we just try and be as quiet as possible."

"Hey, you know us," replied George in a hushed voice.

"Exactly."

"Oh."

"Mischief managed," mumbled Fred wiping the map clean and stuffing it in his pockets.

The three of them stood outside of the entranceway and took a deep breath. Fred and George held onto the side of the door and pushed it all the way open while Lee bent down and picked up his pack of cards.

"Ready," grinned Lee as the three of them were bathed in the light from the Common Room.

As Fred move forward to take a step over the threshold, the three boys were suddenly enveloped in darkness, it was as though they had abruptly been stricken down with blindness. Before any of them could say more then their immediate cries of panic, something had grabbed hold of them and threw them down the corridor. Their vision returned to normal, which of course meant that they were at least able to see where they were about to land, although were not able to do much about it.

"What the hell was that?" demanded George propping himself up onto his elbows and watching as the door to Slytherin House became firmly shut.

"That," said a calm, familiar voice, "was the guardian of Slytherin House."

"Oh no," Fred look up from his prone position on the ground, even upside-down Snape was un-mistakable.

"Hi sir," Lee waved from the floor, "isn't sleepwalking a terrible thing?"

Snape just looked at Lee impassively, "sleepwalking?"

"Oh yes," said George quickly scrambling to his feet, "had it all my life, Fred too, we're always waking up in strange places."

"And you have it as well?" asked Snape his eyes still boring into Lee.

"Yes," whispered Lee using the wall to help himself up.

"Well I must admit," said Snape still staring at Lee, "I never thought sleepwalking could be contagious, but then I do not claim to be an expert in these matters."

"Er…so we can go?" asked Fred uncertainly.

"Of course," replied Snape coolly, "you can't very well be punished for something outside of your control, can you? And since I have no proof that you were deliberately down here I must assume that you are telling the truth."

"Well that's very good of you," said George slowly as he frowned at the other two.

"Yeah thanks," Fred carefully walked passed Snape, with Lee and George in tow.

They had probably made it about five or so steps before…

"However…" the three boys stopped in their tracks and slowly turned around, Snape was standing there with a smug look of triumph on his face, "Schim?"

The boys looked at each other completely confused, before any of them could think of a response, or even work out what Snape had just said a low whispering voice replied causing the hairs on the back of the boys' necks to stand on end.

"Yes Master," hissed the unseen voice.

"What were these…" Snape paused, as he looked the three boys up and down with a withering glance, "students, doing here tonight?"

"They were trying to sneak into Slytherin House."

Fred gave the other two a slight dig in the sides and nodded above the entranceway door, there was a very deep dark shadow that seemed to be shimmering each time the invisible voice spoke.

"And how did they manage to get the door open?" asked Snape still glaring at the boys.

"As I told you earlier this evening when they first did it, they stuck a pack of cards in the door to prevent it from closing."

"Thank you Schim, as usual you have done an exemplary job."

"I live to serve," as the voice fell silent, the shadow above the entrance well fell still and became indistinguishable from any other dark spot in the corridor.

Snape slowly walked forward and towered over the boys.

"I know why you were trying to sneak into my House," sneered Snape triumphantly.

"You do?" asked George squeezing his hand around the compass in his pocket.

"Every year, without fail. At least one, or in this case three, idiotic first years get it into their heads that they want to explore the castle and visit each of the Houses," Snape's eyes blazed with annoyance.

"Er…how did you know?" enquired George quickly.

"Your brothers were no different, and as soon as I heard your names at the Sorting Ceremony I knew that you would be keen to carry on your family tradition. Of course I'm sure your parents would be proud to know that you are continuing your other family traditions as well. Detention every night for a week, plus twenty points each will be taken from your House."

"Every night for a week?" complained Lee, shaking his head.

"You're right, maybe the punishment doesn't quite fit the crime in this case," conceded Snape, "we'd better make it a fortnight. Thank you for your suggestion Jordan."

"But I didn't…ow," Lee stopped mid sentence and hopped on his one good foot since Fred had trodden on the other one.

"Your detentions will start tomorrow," smirked Snape, "it'll give me time to think of thoroughly deserving punishments."

"Yes sir," the boys mumbled before turning around and walking away.

"Get back here," hissed Snape through gritted teeth, "did I say you could go?"

"No sir," replied the boys glumly, returning to their original positions.

"You're dismissed."

"Yes sir."

"There is just one more thing," called Snape. The boys sighed deeply and turned around once again, "Schim?"

"Yes Master," replied the shadow.

"I want you to emblazon these three miscreants into your mind, they are never to be allowed into Slytherin House. Even, and I want to be perfectly clear on this, even if they have the correct password. You are not to let them by you know matter what. Understand?"

"Yes Master."

"Great," whispered Lee as the three of them wandered back through the dungeons, "now what do we do?"


	22. Gardening with Filch

"Snape is such a git," sulked Lee at breakfast the next day, "two weeks of detention and twenty points each. You know I'd really like to just take his head and…" Lee was far too frustrated to describe the act in question so decided to mime it instead using a slice of bacon and his fork.

"You know I don't think that is physically possible," admitted Fred after watching Lee gesticulations, "for a start I don't think he is that bendy."

"So now what?" asked George mopping up the last remnants of his food with a slice of bread.

"There has to be another way into Slytherin," implored Fred taking a large gulp of his drink and slamming his cup back down on the table a little too heavily.

"I doubt it," conceded Lee shaking his head, "I mean yeah with Gryffindor you could probably get in through one of the windows by flying a broom up but Slytherin is under the school."

"Yeah I know," sighed George disappointedly, "actually I think part of it is under the lake."

"Maybe there is a way in that way?" wondered Fred hopefully

"Oh, I didn't realise that you had learnt how to transfigure yourself into a fish," commented George sarcastically.

"Hey I'm just seeing if it would be possible," replied Fred defensively, "we can worry about how we'd do it later."

"Well we'll check the map later," consoled George giving a contented sigh as he pushed his plate away, "but to be honest I think I'm with Lee on this one. I reckon the only way in is past that guardian."

"I was afraid you were going to say that," complained Fred rubbing his shoulder, "can we at least wait until my bruises have gone down before we try it again?"

"We won't be able to try anything for the next two weeks at least," admitted Lee as the three boys swung their legs over the benches and got up, "with detention each night, plus homework, I'm gonna need to sleep at some point."

"I'm sure we'll think of a way passed it," said Fred encouragingly.

"Just as long as I don't end up with another bruised bottom I don't mind what it is," replied Lee wincing slightly as he swung his bag on to his back.

"Sorry Lee can't make any promises like that."

The three boys had a pretty good day on the whole. They learnt how to fix broken objects in Charms, spent the afternoon snoozing quietly while Professor Binns droned on about some important war between some interesting factions and topped it all off with a nice hearty meal in the evening. In fact the day had gone so wellthey had almost forgotten about…

"You three," barked Snape as he stalked up the aisle between the tables in the Great Hall, "you'll be with Filch this evening for detention. Go and report into his office now, he is expecting you."

"And the day was going so well," sighed Fred watching Snape march out of the hall, stopping only to clip some poor student around the for being raucous.

"At least we know what our evening is going to be like," admitted George as they walked to Filch's office.

"Yeah," nodded Lee, "probably cleaning something with our bare hands, I mean don't they have House-Elves for that sort of thing?"

George led the, now familiar, way along to Filch's office. The door was pushed wide open and Filch was sat in his chair waiting for them. As they entered he looked up from the table and grinned at them malevolently while he slowly stroked a snoozing Mrs Norris curled up on the desk.

"Well well well," he smirked leaning back on his chair, "it has been a while since I had to update your files, and here was me thinking that you two had finally decided to buck up your ideas and stop getting into trouble."

"Ahh you know us Mr Filch," said George smiling in a friendly way, "we have been following all the rules there was just a bit of a misunderstanding with Professor Snape."

"Ha," snorted Filch mirthlessly, "I very much doubt that he misunderstood anything about you three. He's spotted that you lot are trouble, same as I did."

"True, very true Mr Filch," sighed Fred nodding his head, "but of course it took him a little longer to spot it then you."

"That cos I've been doing this job longer then him," admitted Filch, making no attempt to hide his smug look, "experience that's what it boils down to."

"Surely that's not the only reason you are better then him?" pointed out Lee as the three boys stood abreast in front of the desk, "I mean I bet you were as good at spotting trouble on your first day here as you are now."

"Oh I wouldn't say that," dismissed Filch with a wave of his hand, pausingbriefly as he thought about it for a moment, "actually, you know I think I was just as good back then for spotting trouble. I can just sense the bad students, it's just a gift I have."

"Definitely Mr Filch," agreed George enthusiastically, "I mean that's what we were told on the first day. Whatever you do, they said, don't even think about breaking the rules where you are near Mr Filch, cos he can practically read your mind."

"Really, they say that about me?" asked Filch, genuinely happy at this snippet of information.

"Of course they do,"replied Fred.

Filch smiled away to himself then suddenly realised that the three boys were still in front of him and remember to frown at them once again. Flustering away, he sat forward and gave the boys' files a quick shuffle before standing up.

"Right you lot, follow me," he said before marching out the room.

Lee looked back at the other two, who just shrugged, and led the way after the caretaker who walked briskly down the corridor with the three boys hurrying along in his wake. He proceeded to lead them through the main hall and out of the school.

"Where are we going?" asked Lee as they began to make their way across towards the Forbidden Forest.

"Are we going in there?" Fred pointed excitedly into the wooded foliage.

"Why are you student always asking so many questions?" snapped Filch breathing hard as he trod carefully down a slope.

"Well, we are here to learn," pointed out George stumbling slightly down the hill.

"You don't need to ask questions to learn," said Filch, turning slightly away from the forest, "just do what you are told."

"Ahh," nodded Lee, "so remind me again why you aren't a teacher."

"No more of your cheek boy," snarled Filch as he brought them to a stop, "you're already in enough trouble as it is."

"So what are we doing here?" asked Lee staring up at the Whomping Willow.

"These," said Filch putting his hand into his pocket and pulling out some green baubles with yellow speckles on them, "are the berries of the Kinnick flower, they are used in some of Madam Pomfrey's medicines."

"Right," said Fred slowly glancing briefly at the berries before turning his attention once more to the imposing looking tree.

"And your job this evening is to pick enough to fill this," there was a dull clang, as Filch pulled a small bucket out of the bag and dropped it onto the floor.

"Now these Kinnick flowers," asked George warily, not really wanting to know the answer, "they wouldn't happen to be those ones over there would they?"

Filch looked where George was pointing. Down at the base of the Whomping Willow there were what looked like a whole carpet of tiny plants each one with small green and yellow berries protruding from the stems.

"Yep, there the ones," confirmed Filch grinning evilly.

"Er…but if we go to try and collect them, won't the Whomping Willow be able to reach us?" asked Lee.

"You know I hadn't thought of that?" admitted Filch falsely, "well I guess you'll have to be extra careful so that you don't get hurt."

"Is that it?" said an amazed Lee, "I heard that some kid nearly lost an eye when he went to close to this thing. Don't we get any kind of protection?"

"Of course," conceded Filch, looking a bit glummer about the whole thing he put his hand into the bag and pulled out three pairs of protective goggles.

"Ok," said Lee as he took a pair and looked at them, "I was thinking more along the lines of a suit of armour, or a large shield maybe, but this…"

"Look on the bright side Lee," said Fred fixed the goggles on his head, "at least we'll still be able to see properly when this thing knocks our head off."

"So are you not joining us?" queried George as the three boys placed the eyewear on.

"Nope," grinned Filch sitting down onto a large rock, putting his hand into the bag once more and pulling out a small packet, "I am here to supervise only."

"Did you bring sandwiches to this?"

"Of course," admitted Filch, unwrapping his dinner and placing on the rock next to him, "it's not often I get to watch a good show. Hurry up, those berries won't pick themselves."

"Maybe it won't be so bad," wondered Lee as the three boys looked up at the tree, "you know it doesn't look like it is moving much, it could be asleep."

"True," admitted George as the tree swayed slightly in the breeze, "ok we just creep in, grab the berries and creep back out. No noises, no sudden movements. Think sneaky."

The boys slowly trod towards the Whomping Willow fanning out as they approached, the soft grass underneath their feet muffling what little sound they did make. They soon all reached the edge of the plants and began picking the berries, all the while looking up at the ominous tree lurking above them.

It wasn't long before each of the trio had an arm full of berries and were carefully making their way back towards the bucket trying not to make a single sound.

"Att-choo!"

The three boys paused, and looked wildly at each other to see which one was the culprit who had sneezed. George pointed accusingly up towards Filch who was proceeding to noisily blow his nose.

"That complete gi…"

"George look out!" shouted Lee cutting his friend off, George managed to glance over his shoulder in time to fling himself out of the way of a large heavy branch before it smashed into the ground.

George had only managed to get back onto his feet before he needed to jump out of the way of another rogue branch. His brother and Lee were suffering similar experiences with varying degrees of success. George ducked quickly avoiding a thin whip-like branch covered in leaves that flicked through the air at him.

"Argh!" cried the voice of Fred. George didn't need to turn his head to see what had happened as his brother was catapulted ahead of him. Helping his twin up, they made their way to the safety zone outside the tree's reach.

They turned back and saw Lee ducking and diving his way to safety on the other side of the tree. Once they were sure that their friend was safe they both turned on Filch.

"What were you doing?" demanded Fred his hands on his hips.

"Me?" replied Filch innocently, "I just have a bit of a cold. Hang on a minute, you don't think that me sneezing could have woken the tree up do you?"

"He's lying, he knew that would alert the tree," whispered Fred as they turned back to look at the tree, Lee was slowly edging himself around to get back to his friends, "he's got the same look in his eye that you get whenever I mention my Rememberall."

"Hey I had nothing to do with that getting broken," complained George.

"Yep that it," pointed Fred, "that's the look right there. Alright Lee?"

"Yeah," winced Lee as he finally made it around to his friends, "it caught me on the shoulder but it was only a graze, I dropped all my berries though."

"Same here," admitted George.

"So did our supervisor offer us any help?"

"What do you think?"

"Ok so now what do we do? With that thing being awake there is no way we'll be able to get close enough to pick enough berries," Lee waved his hand towards the tree which was slowly weaving it's branches left and right getting ready to hit anything that came close.

"Well how about the berries we already picked?" asked Fred pointing to where he had left his armful, "when that thing attacked I pretty much dropped all of mine at the same time, all we need to do it get to them."

"Yeah same here," replied George nodding towards his own pile, "that'll be much easier. Well I say easier considering we still have to dodge the branches."

"Fair enough," conceded Lee still watching the branches swish back and forth, "what are we going to do about the tree?"

"Well," said Fred looking thoughtful, "if we all try and grab our own piles at once, it'll have to keep track of all three of us which will make it harder for the tree."

"So basically we just all run in, grab the berries and hope we don't get hit?" asked George looking sceptical.

"Yep."

"Why are all our plans so obviously stupid?"

"Well you have to play to your strengths I guess."

"Ready?"

"No."

"Great, lets go."

George headed cautiously towards his pile of berries as the other two split off and did the same. He slowly trod on the grass all the while keeping his eyes on the branches of the tree, which were threatening to strike at any minute.

Lee was using the same technique and was steadily making his way around as he tried to keep all the Whomping Willow in his field of vision.

Fred on the other hand had decided to use the direct approach and had just bombed towards his prize at full sprint.

The Whomping Willow reacted to Fred first, one of its larger branches smashed into the ground, luckily because he was moving so fast Fred was no where near it when it connected with the grass. Stumbling slightly over the uneven ground, he put out a hand to stop himself from falling over, a branch flicked through the air over his head just missing him as it passed. Fred reached his prize, scooped up as many berries as he could and headed back toward safety all in one fluid motion. It was all going to well until a bendy branch managed to clip the edge of his heels and send him sprawling over on the ground.

Fred looked up in time to see the large heavy branch baring down on him again. He rolled quickly to the left just missing being hit and pushed himself up off the ground, unfortunately a second smaller branch barely managed to catch him leaving a nasty looking cut on his forehead. He scrambled as best as he could out of reach of the tree, and collapsed down on the floor breathing heavily.

George and Lee soon joined him; both were out of breath and carrying war wounds.

"I only managed to get a handful," admitted Lee holding onto his side as he wheezed.

"Better then me," said George with a painful looking cut lip, "I was too busy watching Fred here just legging it, I got whacked when I wasn't looking."

"Well done!"

"Nice one!"

"Bravo!"

The boys looked up from their collapsed positions on the floor to see that their detention had drawn a bit of a crowd.

"We saw you being led down here by Filch," said Charlie grinning as a way of explanation, "just figured he'd have a look to see what you were up to."

"Oi," snapped Filch clamouring off his rock to address the crowd of onlookers, "you aren't allowed here."

"Actually Mr Filch," corrected Miro, "according to the school rules we aren't allowed within reach of the Whomping Willow unsupervised, so were can stand here if we want."

"Ah… well…" Filch tried to think of an appropriate come back, "shut up! You three get back to work."

"Yeah come on guys," shouted Charlie as they were joined by more students, "you can easily beat that tree, I've seen you steal freshly cooked cakes from mum. If you can do that this will be a synch."

Fred and Lee dumped their collection of berries into the bucket.

"What do you reckon?" asked Lee as the boys looked at the contents of the bucket.

"I think if we managed to grab most of the berries we picked it should be enough to fill it," George pointed out.

"Well obviously our softly softly approach wasn't working," admitted Lee.

"Yeah," agreed George nodding, "I say we go with the running around like an idiot approach that Fred here used. It seems to work the best."

"Ok, ready?" asked Fred, the other two got into a running start position and nodded at him, "go!"

The split up once again, this time all using Fred's approach, sprinting quickly over the soft ground. This time none of them were distracted by what the others were up too, since Miro had taken it upon himself to act as a commentator for the crowd who were excitedly cheering on the three friends.

"Oooo," chorused the crowd, several of the girls shrieked loudly

"And Lee Jordan there nearly getting decapitated by that branch," shouted Miro animatedly, "superb reactions saving him at the last minute."

"It looks like Fred, sorry I mean George, thanks," Miro patted Charlie on the shoulder for correcting him, "is first to the berries…"

"Go George!" shouted Angelina from the crowd, before covering her face as the rest of the group let out a pained sigh.

"…ooo and that looked nasty," grimaced Miro, as George gave his fan club a little wave there, giving the Whomping Willow ample time to show everyone just how it got it's name, "and George is thrown clear of the tree, he looks a little winded but ok. What's that sound?"

Miro paused, and shushed the group by waving his hand at them. Amid the swishing of branches, and panicked cries from Lee and Fred, they could hear a slight hacked wheezing coming from somewhere. The grouped looked across to where the source of the noise was coming from. It was Filch, he was laughing.

Wiping a tear away from the corner of his eye, Filch suddenly realised that he was being stared at and the look of genuine joy quickly evaporated from his face and was soon replaced by his usual scowl.

"Is anyone else a bit… freaked out?" asked Charlie to general murmurs of agreement but before he could say anymore Miro had taken up the commentating once again.

"Oh and Fred seems to collected an ample supply, hopefully he'll be able to get them to safety."

"Ahhh," chorused the crowd as Lee was flung by a branch at Fred barely missing him.

"My word that was close, luckily Lee managed to land on his feet, but he seems to have injured himself."

Lee was trying desperately to avoid the branches but his movement was slow due to the fact that he twisted his ankle when he landed awkwardly. He ducked under one branch and managed to shield his head with his arm as another battered him. Fred dumped his berries into the bucket and went back to help his friend.

"God it hurts," winced Lee stepping gingerly on his foot.

"I think it's only twisted," corrected Fred massaging his shoulder which had been hit several times as he helped Lee to safety, "George and I will get the rest of the berries. Hey George you ok?"

George, who was still getting his breath back after being winded gave his brother a thumbs up and got to his feet.

"Well with Lee injured it just leaves the Weasley twins," commentated Miro excitedly as Fred and George headed back to get the rest of the berries.

"Go go Gryffindor!" chanted the crowd, which had now increased in size as more and more people became drawn by the sound of the commentating and the cheering.

There were whoops and gasps as Fred and George, twisted, ducked and dived back and forth as the Whomping Willow tried in vein to smash them with it's branches. Rather then filling up their arms with as many berries as they could manage, the twins just concentrated on grabbing any amount and returning them to the bucket.

After much running to and fro the exhausted pair dropped their handfuls of berries into the bucket finally filling it completely, much to the delight of the on looking crowd, and the annoyance of Filch.

"Wooo hooo."

"Nice one guys."

"Go go Gryffindor."

"Yes well," snorted Filch as Fred carried the bucket of berries over while George help Lee along, "don't expect the rest of your detentions to be as much fun. Now take those up to Madam Pomfrey."

"At least we are heading to the right place," admitted Lee as he hobbled along using George as a support.


	23. All Washed Up

After what Filch considered the calamity of the Whomping Willow he consigned all of Lee and the twins' detentions to inside where they wouldn't be able to draw a crowd. Over the two weeks he had them clean out the various greenhouses, scrub all the cauldrons after a particularly messy Potions lesson, sweep out the Owlery and a whole host of other things which left them going to bed with aching shoulders and sore backs. Finally the three boys had somehow managed to make it to the end of the punishment.

"I bet he has something special planned for us," grumbled George as the three of them made the now familiar after dinner walk to Filch's office.

"I doubt he could do anything worse then last night," said Fred looking equally miserable.

"I know," grimaced Lee as he remembered, "making us clean the whole of the Great Hall by hand was just plain mean."

"Yeah," agreed George as they turned down the corridor, "especially after Snape let it slip to the Slytherins that we'd be doing it, and then most of them seemed to accidentally drop loads of food on the floor."

"Wotcha Filch," waved Fred as they slumped into the room.

"That's Mr Filch and don't you forget it," he pushed himself up from the desk and towered over the three boys, "well, it looks like the two weeks are nearly up, although I doubt you have learnt your lesson. Follow me."

The three boys traipsed behind Filch as he stalked down the corridor. They reached the main hall and trudged down the stairs next to the Great Hall, soon they were standing outside the familiar portrait of the bowl of fruit.

"Turnaround," ordered Filch, "don't want any of you knowing how to get in here."

The boys tried to stifle grins as the caretaker began tickling the pear with his finger, Fred waved at the Dwarven Armour in front of them, which return a creaking thumbs up.

"Right, you can turn back now."

"Wow Mr Filch," gasped George theatrically as he pretended he'd never seen the way down to the kitchens before, "how did you make a door appear there?"

"Amazing," added Lee nodding in agreement, "you must be a very powerful wizard to be able to do that."

"This school is riddled with secrets, and only a few people know them of course," replied Filch trying but, completely failing, notto look smug.

"And of course you'd be one of those people wouldn't you Mr Filch?" asked Fred excitedly, "I bet you are smart enough to work out all the secret passages in this school."

"Well I wouldn't quite say it like that," Filch replied, smiling despite himself, "but I'm pretty sure I know every single hidden doorway in this school."

"That's because you are thorough Mr Filch," gushed Lee.

"If a job is worth doing, it's worth doing right," added George, "that's what you always say isn't it?"

"Yeah that's true," nodded Filch, "I was only saying that to Mrs Norris the other day…oh I know what you are doing."

"And what's that Mr Filch?" asked Fred innocently, "we're just pointing out how good at your job you are."

"Nope," Filch shook his head violently, "you're trying to delay me, you think if you keep me hear chatting you won't have to spend as long being punished. But I'm onto you lot. Move it!"

Fred led the way down the stairs into the kitchens with George, Lee and Mr Filch following close behind. The usual hustle and bustle of the House-Elves seemed a bit subdued compared to their previous visits, in fact the twins noticed that the usually grinning and happy creatures were looking quite glum. Before they could ask any questions Filch led them in front of series of huge sinks, next to these were a couple of large wooden tables which were piled high with dirty plates, cups, pots and pans.

"Here you go," grinned Filch throwing each of the boys a cloth.

"You want us to wash all them?" Fred asked giving the pile on the table a wide-eyed look.

"Oh nope of course not," Filch shook his head.

"Thank God for that," exclaimed Lee giving a sigh of relief.

"You'll have to dry them as well."

"But that's going to take all night," complained George hands on hips.

"More then likely," smiled Filch malevolently, "and don't expect the House-Elves to help you either, they have all been ordered to leave this lot to you three."

"They have?" moaned Fred as his otherwise perfect plan met a roadblock.

"Yeah, and they weren't too pleased about it either. No short cuts for you. Now get cleaning. One of the House-Elves will come and get me when you are done."

Filch slinked away out of the room humming happily to himself as the boys began filling up the sinks with hot water along with the washing up liquid provided.

"This is going to take forever," groaned Lee, dumping a stack of plates into the water, promptly splashing it all down his front.

"I think that's the plan."

The whole evening was slow backbreaking work, but somehow they managed to gradually reduce the crockery mountain all the while having to put up with the despaired looks they were getting from the House-Elves, who looked to be itching to wash up even just a few plates for them.

"Better not let mum know we are doing this," whispered Fred to his twin.

"Yeah," agreed George wiping a hand across his brow, "we'll be on washing up duty the rest of our lives."

Suddenly a loud crack rang through the air, Fred and George looked over at Lee who had dropped a stack of clean plates heavily onto a table.

"Sorry," he apologised, moving back in front of his sink, "my hands were a bit slippy."

"Careful," said Fred as another loud cracking sound echoed around the large room, "if you break any plates I'm pretty sure Filch will punish us for it."

"It's not me," replied Lee holding both his hands up to show he wasn't even touching a plate when a third crack came, "see, told you."

"Hey check that out," George splashed the other two with water to get their attention, before either of them could complain he nodded over towards a group of House-Elves who were huddled around a table full of clothes and bottles.

As the boys watched they saw one House-Elf pick up a cloth and a bottle and then suddenly without warning he disappeared with the same loud cracking sound.

"Oi," said Fred, causing some of the House-Elves to turn around and look over, "where did he go?"

"To help clean the Great Hall," squeaked one of the small creatures bowing low as the three boys looked at him.

"But I didn't think you could you know…that thing when you disappear and reappear somewhere else."

"Do you mean apparate sir?" asked the House-Elf helpfully.

"Yes that's it. I didn't think anyone could apparate within the school grounds."

"Only wizards and witches are stopped from doing that" informed the House-Elf respectfully, "House-Elves use different magic, we are not stopped from moving around the school."

"How come you are allowed to do it?" asked Lee drying his face on a hand towel much to the pleasure of the House-Elf who had given it to him.

"We have to clean all over the school," explained the talkative House-Elf, grinning at the thought of polishing and tidying up, "it means we can clean more this way."

"All over the school?" asked George, dropping another pile of plates into his sink.

"Oh yes sir," beamed the House-Elf extremely proud of this fact, "from top to bottom, we clean everything."

"Even the Houses?" queried Fred, all thoughts of washing up slowly draining from his mind.

"Yes sir even the Houses," nodded the House-Elf enthusiastically, "but mainly just the big room though. Students are supposed to keep their own rooms clean. We only tidy them during the summer."

"You look quite sad about that?" observed Lee.

"Tell you what," said George sighing deeply, "it's a wretch doing this but if you want, we'll let you clean our room whenever you want."

"Really?" grinned the House-Elf, tears of joy welling up in his eyes as excited chatter started up between the group behind him, "oh thank you. That is so kind of you to let us do that."

"It's the least we can do," admitted Fred, "and I tell you what if we ever need anything cleaning or polishing we'll let you do that for us as well."

"Oh Floop never knew students could be so kind," grinned the House-Elf who looked as though he would explode with happiness..

"Floop is it?" asked Fred who received a nodded response, "tell me Floop, can you just apparate into a Common Room whenever you need to?"

"Oh yes sir," replied Floop, his head bobbing up and down as he bowed repeatedly, "Floop pops in, Floop pops out. Except when Floop needs to carry heavy things, then we just use the doorway. Did I say something wrong?"

The twins looked across at Lee who had let out a loud chuckle before he could stifle it.

"Is it because the word Floop sounds a bit like poop?" asked George.

"Yep," grinned Lee.

"Lucky there isn't an Elf called Wee or Plop isn't there?" said Fred shaking his head.

"Ploppy? You want to talk to Ploppy?" said Floop excitedly, "Floop can go and get him if you want."

"No no it's fine Floop", replied George trying to ignore Lee who had been reduced to a fit of giggles, "so let me get this straight you can pop in and out of the Houses whenever you like? Don't the guardians ever stop you?"

"Them? No, they don't stop Floop. House-Elves are allowed everywhere, we can come and go when we need to clean."

"But you said that sometimes you use the doorway," said Fred patiently trying to keep the House-Elf on track, "don't you need the passwords?"

"Yep, we can only pop around if we are carrying something light. Otherwise we have to carry it down to the Houses. The guardians let us in, well…" for the first time Floop's happy expression turned into a frown, "Schim doesn't, he makes us get the passwords. Him mean shadow."

"Interesting…" said George looking thoughtful, "well don't let us hold you up. We have to get this finished."

"Are you guys thinking what I am thinking?" asked Fred looking at the other two.

"Yeah," grinned Lee washing up another plate, "Ploppy."

"Er…no I don't mean House-Elf names," said Fred shaking his head, before pausing slightly, "although that is a pretty funny name. I mean we can get the House-Elves to help us get in."

"Oh, but how?" asked Lee rinsing the plate and stacking it with the other clean ones, "I doubt they are allowed to just help us inside Slytherin."

"Mere details," Fred replied, waving his has dismissively, "the point is know who can get us inside, we just need to work out how."

For the rest of the evening the three boys continued to wash up while arguing over how they could use the House-Elves to help them into Slytherin House. With this added distraction they didn't actually realise they were finished until one of the House-Elves disappeared off to tell Filch.

"It can't be good for your hands," remarked Fred staring down at his fingers, which now resembled five very wrinkly prunes.

"Yeah, and if it was good for them I doubt Filch would be getting us to do it," George pointed out.

"You have to wonder why someone, who obviously hates children so much, decided to work in a school."

"Isn't it obvious?" huffed Filch who had clearly heard them as he stamped down the stairs into the kitchens.

"Er…is it because underneath it all you actually really like children?" asked Fred sceptically.

"No," replied Filch marching up to them, before leaning forward into Fred's face, "it's because underneath it all I hate children, and I can think of no better way of spending my time then by tormenting them. Spoilt little ingrates the lot of you."

"Not us Mr Filch," disagreed Fred shaking his head, "I mean we were only just saying how grateful we were that someone like you was working at the school."

"You were?" frowned Filch.

"Oh yes Mr Filch," nodded George wholeheartedly, "if it wasn't for you keeping up in line, we'd probably have got expelled by now."

"Expelled?" asked Filch in hushed voice as if it was the single greatest word he had ever spoken.

"Yep definitely," answered George giving the caretaker a grateful smile, "but it is all thanks to you that we are still here?"

"It is?" stammered Filch, "but I never…"

"Just think Mr Filch," Fred cut across the flustering Filch, "if you had just left us alone we would probably have already been kicked out of the school and you wouldn't ever had to see us again."

"But…but…"

"Look, you're so happy you're almost crying," Lee added as the caretaker floundered.

"Right that's it," snapped Filch, finally composing himself, "you three shut up, and follow me. You lot stop staring and get back to work."

A group of House-Elves, who had stopped to watch the spectacle of Filch getting flummoxed, suddenly jumped into action. They all sprinted over to different parts of the room where a variety of cleaning equipment was kept, grabbed an appropriate item and disappeared with a loud crack. As the three boys followed Filch, Lee looked back and waved goodbye to the remaining House-Elves, although they didn't really notice him as they were too preoccupied with grabbing the mops, buckets and cloths.

"Right," sneered Filch as he settled back behind his desk, the three boys lined up in front of him, "your two weeks of punishments is up. I would say I expect you lot to have learnt your lesson but I think we all know that if very unlikely."

"You know us so well," smiled Fred sweetly.

Filch gave them all a stony look before he dipped a quill into the inkwell on his desk and slowly updated the boys' files.

"Stop it," snapped Filch, as Lee began to quietly hum under his breath while the three boys waited for him to finish. When he did, he looked carefully placed the quill back on the table and looked up at them, "right, now get out of my sight."

"Such a nice person, is old Filch," said Lee as they made their way back up to Gryffindor House.

"Yep," agreed George, "the part of him I like the most is that vein in his head that bulges when he gets angry."

"Ah yes I know the one you mean," nodded Fred, "I named it Vinny."


	24. Moving House

"I just can't believe it," complained a dejected Fred the next afternoon stepping through the doorway and into the rather subdued Common Room.

"How did they manage it?" asked George from behind, his face a little red from the cold.

"One hundred and forty points to one fifty," whispered a disbelieving Angelina as she and Alicia joined the three boys slumped down on the beanbags.

"We were doing so well," said Alicia throwing her hands up in annoyance.

"I know," agreed Fred nodding, "our Chasers were all over them, I mean Miro scored with his first shot…"

"It wouldn't be so bad if they had deserved to win," whined George while the others bobbed their heads in acknowledgement, "but there is no way Coyle meant to catch the Snitch."

"Yeah," said Alicia shaking her head, "he was only flapping his arms about to try and keep on his broom after that Bludger nearly got him, and somehow he managed to grab it by accident."

"Did you hear the Slytherin lot?"

"Forget about them, did you hear Wood?" replied Fred grinning.

"Yeah," giggled Angelina, "I think McGonagall had a word with him after the match about his language. Now that is someone who cares about his Quidditch."

"It's going to make our final game a close one," commented George.

"Yeah," agreed Alicia taking off her woolly hat and shaking her hair free, "we're what…a hundred and fifty points ahead?"

"About that," nodded Fred waving at Lee to get his attention as he entered the room, "but if Slytherin flatten Hufflepuff…"

"Which is more then likely," added George.

"…then we'll have to hope we can make up the points against Ravenclaw," finished Fred as Lee plonked himself down next to Angelina, "which is possible seeing as they lost so badly in their last match. What do you think?"

"Well to be honest," said Lee looking serious, "Ravenclaw weren't that bad last match, Slytherin were just too good for them. I think we'll have a tough match."

"Ahh don't worry about it," replied George with a wave of his hand as though dismissing the negative thoughts, "between Wood, Miro and Charlie we are more then enough to beat them. Besides it's the Easter Holidays next week. It'll be a nice break from school."

"Try telling that to the team," signed Lee, "I saw them just before I came up, and it wasn't a pretty sight."

"To be fair you could never call Miro a pretty sight at the best of times."

The subdued feeling in the Gryfindor Common Room lasted most of the day, and late into the evening, despite the twins' best efforts to cheer people up. In hindsight their last desperate bid to make people smile by starting a water fight in the House probably wasn't the smartest idea to try but that didn't stop Fred and George from attempting it. What did stop them however was a rather annoyed, more importantly wet looking, McGonagall standing by the portrait-hole.

One hasty mopping session later, and another couple of detentions to add to their already impressive list, the twins headed off upstairs and collapsed to bed. While Lee and the other occupants, who had also left their packing to the last minute, were busy trying to cram clothes into travel bags for the week off.

The next day there was a large crowd outside the school, a lot of the students who were staying at Hogwarts over the Easter holidays had come out to wave off those who have elected to go home for the week.

"Have a good break," said Fred the next day, slapping Lee on the back.

"Yeah same goes to you two," smiled Lee slinging his bag over his shoulder, before looking carefully around and leaning forward so only the twins could hear him, "look, I was thinking about it at breakfast. This week will probably be a good time to try and sneak into Slytherin."

"We thought the same thing," admitted Fred.

"But we didn't really think we should do it without you," added George, "I mean we are all in this together."

"Don't be daft," scolded Lee, "there won't be a lot of people around, plus it'll be much easier only sneaking the two of you into Slytherin rather then all of us."

"Well, if you are sure you don't mind missing out," smiled Fred, his mind already turning to the problem of getting into the House.

"Of course not," grinned Lee, "just don't spend my third of the treasure. Any idea's how you are going to use the Elves to get in?

"Loads of ideas," admitted George, "sadly none of them are very good at the moment."

"Hey," complained Fred giving his brother a slight punch on the arm, "they were perfectly good ideas."

"Dressing up as House-Elves is considered a good idea is it?"

"Er…that was your idea."

"Oh yeah."

"See you in a week," Lee shook his head as he walked over to a series of black horseless carriages and clambered into one with Angelina and Alicia.

It wasn't long before each of the carriages were full, and at some unseen signal they all moved off towards the school gates where they would turn down the road towards Hogsmeade and the railway station.

"Ok so you want to try getting in tonight?" asked Fred waving as the last of the carriages turned out of sight.

"You mean you've worked out what to use for ears?"

"Look, we aren't dressing up as House-Elves."

"So what are we dressing up as?"

"We're not going to be dressing up as anyone."

"Really? Well I guess that's a relief. So what are we going to do?" asked George as they wandered back into the school.

"Something special brother, something special."

"You really have to look up the word 'special' in the dictionary," whispered George harshly.

"Are you going to stop complaining at any point?" replied Fred in a hushed voice; "because this isn't going to work if you are chattering away."

"I just don't see how dragging me down here in them middle of the night to hide inside a cabinet is going to help anyone."

"That is because I haven't told you the rest of the plan," explained Fred patiently, "you don't think I honestly wanted to be squashed in here just for fun did you?"

"I wouldn't put it passed you," mumbled George in the darkness, "so what is your brilliant plan then?"

"Simple…"

"Yes that's one way to describe you, but what's the plan?"

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," sniffed Fred haughtily.

"I called you simple," said George a little louder, "did you hear it that time?"

"Anyway," Fred carried on, "as I was saying the reason we are in this cabinet is because it is getting moved into the Slytherin Common Room tonight."

"Really, by who? Cos I think Filch would probably have a heart attack if he tried to lift this thing with us in it."

"The House-Elves."

"Er…ok now I don't want to point out any flaws in this otherwise brilliant plan," stated George kindly, his voice echoing in the enclosed space, "but we aren't talking about trolls or giants here, a House-Elf could never lift this thing."

"They could if they used their magic," explained Fred smugly.

"Well that takes care of that problem," conceded George, "there is something I would like to know though."

"What's that?"

"How do you know this cabinet is being moved to the Slytherin Common Room anyway?"

"I overheard Snape telling Filch that he needed an extra cabinet for his House, and Filch said that he would get the House-Elves to bring in the one from Defence Against the Dark Arts class as Quirrell didn't need it."

"Well I guess that explains why I am hiding inside a cabinet, in a cold room, in the middle of the night on the first day of the Easter Holidays."

"It could be worse," sighed Fred.

"How?"

"Well if Lee hadn't gone home for the holidays then there would be three of us squashed in here."

"Or one of us could have stayed in their nice warm bed…"

"Shh," ordered Fred and listened in the darkness, "I think someone is coming."

There was a light pitter-patter of footsteps before the twins heard the door to the classroom being pushed open and someone stepping in side. The sound of happy and contented humming came closer and closer to the cabinet. The twins held their breaths as whoever was outside slowly walked around the cabinet as though they were examining it, occasionally pausing to tap a finger against the wood.

The humming carried back around to the front and George's heart leapt into his mouth as the door began to rattle.

"Hmm…" sighed the unmistakable squeaky voice Floop, "locked. But I was only asked to move cabinet, not open it."

There was a loud snap as Floop clicked his fingers, Fred grabbed onto his brother for support as the cabinet shifted underneath them. They could hear the footfalls of Floop, but for some reason they didn't seem to be moving away, it was as though he was just marching on the spot. When they heard the creaking of the door being opened the twins realised that Floop must have been levitating the cabinet along through the room.

It seemed to take ages to get through the school into the dungeons, with the twins wobbling around inside the cabinet as it bobbed along in the air. Luckily because it was so cramped inside of it they couldn't move around much, even if they wanted to. This meant that they didn't make much noise, although with Floop happily singing away to himself it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference.

The twins only started to become anxious when Floop had stopped singing and all that could be heard was the echo of his steps in the corridor. The reason why the House-Elf had gone quiet soon became apparent.

"Let Floop in," squeaked the House-Elf.

"Stupid creature," hissed a voice from above, "I can't let you in without a password. You know that."

"Floop knows that, but Floop thought since you know House-Elves are allowed everywhere that you wouldn't need a password. I thought you might be nice."

"Well then you thought wrong didn't you," laughed Schim mirthlessly, "no password, no entrance. And leave the thinking to those of us that are capable of it."

Floop gave and annoyed snort and clicked his fingers. The cabinet jerked slightly as it landed heavily on the ground, there was a loud cracking sound like the ones the twins and Lee had heard in the kitchen, then a momentary silence before an identical cracking noise rang down the passageway.

"Loki."

There was an expectant pause.

"Floop gave the password," complained the House-Elf.

"Yes you did," sneered Schim, "but you didn't ask me nicely to open the door."

"Please could you open the door?"

"I suppose so," sighed the shadow as the door to Slytherin House slowly slid open.

The twins grabbed onto each other for support as Floop once again clicked his fingers and the cabinet was levitated unsteadily off the ground.

"Hmm," muttered Floop, "next to fireplace Mr Filch said."

Fred bumped his head slightly as the back of the cabinet bounced off the wall and settled itself down on the floor. Floop came and examined his handy work and after a few moments of adjusting the cabinet left and right he was eventually happy with the result and disappeared with the usual loud cracking sound.

"So now what?" whisper George in the quiet dark.

"Now we get out, obviously," replied Fred matter of factly.

"How?" asked George impatiently, "in case you didn't notice we are locked in here."

"Yep," said Fred rummaging in his pocket, which isn't such an easy thing when stuck inside a cabinet with someone else, "that's because I locked us in. Aha, here's the key."

"When did you lock us in here? I didn't see you do that?"

"Probably because it was so dark in here."

"Ok, maybe I couldn't have seen you do it but I didn't hear you lock us in here either."

"That's because you were too busy complaining about it being dark in here. Hang on."

The key clicked in the lock and Fred pushed open the door blinking in the low light of the Slytherin Common Room.

"It's a bit dark in here isn't it?" asked George stepping out into the room, which had a low-slung ceiling lit with greenish lamps.

"Yeah," agreed Fred looking around, "is it me or is there something missing in here?"

"No windows," George pointed up at the walls where solid stone, "well I suppose we are in the dungeons."

"That's a bit depressing isn't it?" Fred stepped around a large wooden table and traced a hand over the back of a large green leather armchair, "although that would explain why the Slytherin lot are like they are."

"What are you saying, that they just need a nice big glass window and they won't be such gits? Even if they lived in one of the greenhouses I doubt they'd be any nicer."

"True," admitted Fred as the two boys slowly wandered around the room, "well might as well get a move on. You got the compass?"

"I thought you were suppose to bring it?"

"No," hissed Fred through gritted teeth, "you were supposed to get it. Remember?"

"Yeah I do," grinned George pulling out the little box and opening it.

"You're not funny, you do know that don't you?"

The twins stared at the box and waited for the arrows to settle down and point them in the right direction.

"It's over there in that corner," said George nodded.

"We are going to be so rich," remarked Fred bouncing over to the wall, which was covered in markings.

George brought the compass with him as he followed his brother, who was grinning at him expectantly as he held the wooden box up and tried to gauge where the markings should appear on the wall. Holding onto the compass George slowly lowered it until it was practically touching the floor.

"Er…ok we have a slight problem," said George cutting through the silence of the room, "I think we need to go down a level."

"Right, that's fine. Although there is just one slight problem there."

"The school doesn't go any further down?"

"Well done. Are you reading the arrows correctly?"

From his crouched position on the floor, George gave his brother a withering look, "how many different ways are there to look at them?"

"Ok," mumbled Fred rummaging around in his pocket before pulling out his wand and the Maurader's Map and activating it, "look, there is nothing below us."

"Actually there might be," replied George standing up again, "remember the room we found this box in? That wasn't on the map."

"Great, so how on earth are we suppose to find a way into a room that doesn't have an entrance?"

"Well, when I fell into that room it was because you pulled on that suit of armour."

"Ok will you stop bring it that up?" sighed Fred rubbing the side of his head, "I mean haven't I apologised enough for that?"

"Er…no. Not even once yet."

"Whatever."

"Anyway, what I meant was that there was a lever to open the trap door, so there is probably one in this room. Look around for something that looks like you could push or pull it."

George looked analytically around the room as though he was cataloguing everything that could be a likely suspect, starting with the objects closest to him. Fred on the other hand was lifting up, pushing and pulling at anything and everything that he could, including his brother.

"Stop it," ordered George batting away Fred's finger as it prodded him in the shoulder.

"Just checking. Which is more then you are doing?"

"Look at this wall," George waved a hand at it.

"What about it?"

"Well it's covered in symbols, numbers and letters. But no two are the same."

"As pretty as it is, it doesn't really help us that much. We are looking for a lever, remember?"

"I know, but if you look here," George pointed at a specific spot on the wall.

"That's an F," exclaimed Fred excitedly, his eyes flicking over the markings next to the letter, "but it's on its own. We are looking for F P remember?"

"True," sighed George.

"Lets keep pulling at things," whispered Fred before wandering along and the mantelpiece messing around with all the ornaments he found on there. He had worked his way around half of the room before he realised that his twin hadn't moved away from the wall yet.

"Are you going to help?" hissed Fred.

"Hang on," frowned George, he traced his finger around the letter F and slowly pushed against it. The letter, along with a small circle of stone surrounding it, sunk into the wall until it gave a slight click. Grinning he turned back to look at his brother.

"Brilliant," smiled Fred, joining his brother at the wall.

"All we need now is a P," concluded George, before waving a finger warningly, "don't even think about making a joke about it."

Fred instantly shut his mouth, and turned back to look at the wall. With so many different symbols and markings it took them a while to find what they were looking for.

"Aha," said George triumphantly, pushing against the wall with his finger. Like the other letter, the P sunk into the wall with a loud click.

If the twins could see behind the stone, they would have looked into a slight crevice, which contained a rather intricate and sophisticated clockwork contraption. This contraption contained many cogs, gears and pulleys that had sprung to life, flicking off dust and dirt, as the two stone buttons activated the whole system. While neither of the boys had the same love of mechanics as their father they would have still appreciated the complex work that had gone into producing such an item.

Of course since they were on the other side of what they thought was just a very thick wall they could not fully value the amazing spectacle of the device whirling away. In fact the only witness to this whole flurry of activity was a lone spider that had made the space behind the wall his home and, assuming he could talk, he would have said, "oi, what the hell happened to my web? Still, that's an impressive feat of engineering." But he couldn't, so he didn't.

On the other hand both Fred and George could talk, but they didn't really have much time to say anything before the floor beneath them gave way and they dropped down into the dark.


	25. Stumbling in the Dark

"Ok," winched Fred in the darkness, "that really hurt."

"I dunno," replied George using the wall to help himself up, "it wasn't so bad."

"That's probably because you landed on me."

"Sometimes you can be so picky. We did fall quite far, but you have got to admit sliding down that tunnel was fun," said George fumbling for his wand in his pocket, "Lumos."

The two brothers shielded their eyes as the wand illuminated them. They were standing; or at least George was, in a small cramped passageway. Looking back they could see that the tunnel they had slid down had closed over. George bent down and picked up the compass that he had dropped.

"It won't budge," he grunted reaching up to try to force the chute open once again.

Fred pushed himself to his feet and brushed the dirt off his knees. He looked across at his brother who had given up trying to pry the opening free and they both glanced down the dark passageway. "Guess that's the only way."

"I wonder where it leads?" echoed George's voice ahead of the light as the twins slowly made their way along the tunnel, "the map doesn't show this place either."

"It's a lot like the one into Hogsmeade," commented Fred as his brother wiped the Marauder's Map clear, "maybe it'll take us there?"

"Maybe," replied George stooping under a low part of the ceiling, "but I have no idea what direction we are going in."

"What about the compass?"

"What about it? It doesn't tell us where North is."

"I know that but are we heading in the right direction."

"It depends on what you mean. Do you mean the way out or towards a rather nice toffee apple? Cos either of those would be the right direction."

"Actually I meant are we heading towards the treasure? God, I haven't had a toffee apple in ages."

"Er… you had one today, remember after lunch?" reminded George flicking open the box and looking at the arrows, "yep, it's pointing straight ahead."

The twins steadily made their way down the dark passageway, their wands only managing to illuminate a short distance ahead of them; not that either of them really noticed as they had dissolved into arguing over whether or not a chocolate apple was superior to the toffee variety.

"Look I'm just saying that toffee apples came first, therefore they are better," said George from the front of the two-man procession.

"Well by that logic I am better then you."

"How do you work that out?"

"I was born first," Fred pointed out, causing George to stop in his tracks.

"Er…no, I was born first," corrected George.

"Since when?" frowned Fred his hands on his hips.

"Since about ten minutes before you were."

"And mum says you were first, does she?"

"Oh I never asked mum. I just assumed I was first, what with being the good-looking twin and everything."

"I'm sorry," repliedFred shaking his head, "I must be getting sleepy, because for a moment there I though I heard you say that you were the good looking one."

"Not just the good-looking one but the clever one too."

"Ok now you are just being silly, we both got the same mark on that Herbology test last week."

"You copied off me," said George waving his finger accusingly.

"Yeah and you copied off Lee."

"Hmm good point," nodded George, "ok fair enough we are just as smart…"

"…and?"

"…and nothing. I still maintain I'm the good-looking one. How about when they get back we just ask the girls which one of us is better looking?"

"Suits me fine," replied Fred before pushing past his brother, " and now if you don't mind let's find that treasure."

"I'm also taller then you."

The bickering continued as the brothers slowly made their way down the dark passageway and didn't stop until it eventually led into a large cavernous room. As the brothers stepped through the tunnel and into the room they gave it an appraising look, which didn't really take long as they was nothing in the catacomb save for a concrete plinth in the middle.

"They could do with some decorations in here," commented Fred looking around the room, "or at least a window."

"YeahI expected something a bit well grander to be honest."

The twins approached the plinth in the centre of the room,and as they drew closer to it they realised that there was something placed on top of it.

"It's the fourth piece," shouted Fred excitedly punching his brother on the arm and rushing forward.

"Wait!" ordered George just as Fred was about to pick up the stone slab.

"What?"

"Doesn't this seem a little bit familiar to you?"

"Oh, well now you mention it…" Fred paused and scratched his head.

"It's like when we found this," said George giving the compass a little wave.

"Yeah that's it," nodded Fred before casting a sideways look at his brother, "is that important?"

"Do you remember what happened when we picked this up?"

"Oh yeah, that nasty blade," Fred looked down at the plinth and step a few paces back, "any ideas on how we should get it?"

"Erm…we could try to knock if off with something."

"With what?" replied Fred waving his arm to indicate the otherwise empty room.

"I don't know," shrugged George looking around on the floor for a rock to throw, "I suppose we could just chuck one of our shoes at it."

"Yep we could do that," nodded Fred in agreement, "or we could remember that we have wands and just levitate it."

"Oh yeah," grinned George, slipping his right foot back into his shoe.

"Windgardium Leviosa," Fred gave his wand a quick swish and flicked it in the direction of the plinth.

A few moments of uncertainty passed before the stone slab began to rise and wobble shakily in the air. George let out a whoop of excitement as his brother slowly drew the stone towards them and grasped it triumphantly in his hand.

"Wicked," smiled George holding out the compass so his twin could slot the final piece into the side.

Fred gave his brother a quick excited look as he clicked the stone into place. They both waited with bated breath, watching the box on the palm of George's hand.

Suddenly one of the arrows sprang into life and began spinning wildly around.

"This is it brother," exclaimed Fred beaming from ear to ear.

The second arrow also began to twirl quickly around.

"We are going to be so rich," laughed George, never taking his eyes off the box.

Without warning the box abruptly snapped itself shut, the crack echoed loudly around the room. The twins waited expectantly. And waited. And waited.

"Er…shouldn't it be showing us where the treasure is?" asked George still holding the box out on his hand.

"Give it a minute."

"We've given it about five already."

"Maybe we had to do something else to it," said Fred. He took the box out of his brother's hand and tried to open it again, "damn, now it is stuck again."

"Hey there is something on the bottom," George pointed at the box, which his brother had begun to shake left and right in an attempt to get it to open back up.

Fred flipped it over and they both looked at the bottom of the box. Instead of the usual smooth wooden finish there were words scrawled across the back of it in red writing that seemed to glow under the wand light.

"What's it say?" asked George trying to read the words upside-down.

"Litha"

"Well what on earth does that mean?"

"I think it means that this thing won't work until we find out what Litha means," concluded Fred, "it could a person or a place or a treasure."

"Well that's just perfect isn't it," complained George shaking his head, "talk about a waste of time."

"It wasn't a waste of time," corrected Fred waving the box under his brother's nose before sticking it in his pocket, "we just need to work out what this Litha is and then we'll be laughing."

"Prevend was here nearly two hundred years ago, do you honestly think this Litha is still around?"

"You always look on the bright side don't you? Come on, let's go home."

"And that's another thing," George carried on venting, "we only got past Schim in the first place cos we were hidden inside a cabinet, how are we suppose to get past him on the way out?"

"Originally I planned an exciting escape involving us using smoke bombs and heavy disguises."

"And now?"

"I think we'll wait for the door to slide open and then we just leg it."

"Smooth," replied George giving his appraisal of the plan, "fine let's go and see if we can figure out how to get back into the Slytherin Common Room."

The brother's turned away from the plinth and back towards the tunnel. They both froze in their tracks and looked wildly around. The way out had disappeared; in its place was solid rock and dirt just like the rest of the catacomb.

"Where's it gone?"

"It has to be here," shouted George frustratedly pushing his hand against where the passageway used to be as though he was attempting to force it back open through the dirt, "a tunnel that big doesn't just suddenly disappear."

"Hey check this out," called Fred, who had been wandering around the cave to try and find another way out. He was standing next to the plinth looking down at it, "there is more writing."

"What does it say?" asked George striding over, "'start digging' perhaps?"

"It says 'Solvo Sidon'," replied Fred examining the writing.

"Well that sounds like a load of help," George shook his head as he gazed down at the plinth. He looked back at where the opening of the tunnel should have been, "I bet when we took the stone off this thing, it triggered **a** trap that closed the way out."

"Great, so not only are we trapped down here, it turns out it's our own fault," said Fred still looking distractedly at the writing, he traced his finger along a groove etched into the stone that ran underneath the words.

Fred paused for a moment looking at the words. There was something strange about them but he just couldn't quite put his finger on it, even though he was in fact currently putting his finger on it. He leaned close to the plinth and his eyes flicking across the stone as though expecting the words to gradually make sense.

He suddenly frowned and moved his head back away from the writing, waited a few seconds and then lent forward once again. George, who had been examining the rest of the catacomb for a possible way out, stared over at his brother with a look of bemusement on his face.

"Hey check this out," called Fred as he continued to bob his head back and forth making it look as though he was impersonating a chicken.

"Well done brother," replied George kindly, "it looks like you have got it down to a 't'."

"What?" frowned Fred pausing, "no, not that you idiot. I mean look at this. When I move close to the words, the letters seem to glow."

"Really?" asked George continuing to check along the wall, "so instead of words we don't know the meaning to, we now have glowing words we don't know the meaning to."

While George carried on testing the walls for any clues to a possible exit, Fred persistent with bobbing his head up and down making the letters glow and dim repeatedly. He tried to work out just what the glowing letters meant, **as **he was sure they had to have some other purpose.

He placed his hands on the cool stone and closed his eyes as he attempted to make sense of the situation, but unfortunately no sudden inspiration flooded over him. He sighed in frustration, opened his eyes and gazed back down at the letters.

His eyes opened wide as he saw that the letters were glowing brightly without his face being close to it. Fred looked down at his hands and slowly moved his left hand away; the words remained illuminated, he then moved his right hand, which still contained his wand, away and the letters fell dark once again.

He continued to experiment with the glowing letters, waving his hand back and forth over the stone causing the letters to flash with varying degrees of brightness.

"Oh," sighed Fred as realisation gradually dawned on him, "it's not me making it glow, it's the wand."

He pointed the wand down at the stone; its point just inches from the words. The letters grew exceedingly bright but even more intense was the groove underneath them. It was practically pulsing with light. Fred moved the tip of his wand over the furrow and traced along its length, matching the curves and arches along the way.

The letters glowered at him bright then before. So he traced the groove again and again, and each time he did, it seemed to make the light more and more concentrated.

"Solvo Sidon," Fred mumbled, reading the words out-loud as he traced his wand along the groove once again.

The stone plinth suddenly burned brightly as the entire thing lit up, causing Fred to shield his eyes against it. As soon as the light appeared it abruptly stopped.

"What did you do?" asked George urgently, running over to his twin.

"Nothing," shrugged Fred attempting to sound innocent. He caught his brother's look, "**well ok,** I just sort of read out the words whilst I waved my wand."

"Oh, so basically you cast a spell?"

"I guess so," admitted Fred.

"A strange spell, and we don't know what it'll do."

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"Now, why did you have to go and say something like that?" scolded George, "we are trapped, underground, and no one knows we are here. Do you honestly want to know what's the worst that could happen?"

"I dunno, maybe Percy will turn up and want to read us his essay on Goblin mining in the twentieth century again," ventured Fred causing both the twins to shudder at the thought.

"Hang on, can you hear that?"

"Yeah, it sounded like you saying 'hang on, can you hear that?' " grinned Fred. His brother just gave him a look, "actually now that you glare at me like that I think I can hear something. Like a rumbling sound."

"It sounds like it is coming from over there," said George pointing to the far end of the cave.

The strange noise continued to get louder until there was a muted thud against the wall. The rumbling sound had disappeared and was replaced by a low creaking noise.

Fred looked across at his brother who just gave him a brief shrug of confusion. The creaking sound began to get more intense. The twins backed away from the far wall as much as they could, not knowing what to expect.

Suddenly a small mass of dirt shot across the room hitting the wall next to them. They looked at the clump on the ground, then up at the wall that it had hit, and then at the far wall. The brother's hearts sank. Where the dirt had been, was now a hole, and through that hole a constant stream of water was pouring through.

"What do we do now?" shouted George panicking.

"Let's block it back up," replied Fred grabbing the Quaffle sized ball of dirt and running to the far end.

The water was cold against their ankles as they waded uncertainly through the loud rushing water. It took both of the boys together to force the piece of dirt back into place. The torrent of water slowed but it still trickled down the sides of the opening.

"Now what?" asked George his soaked hair matted to his head, "we can't stand here forever."

"I dunno, let me think."

"Great, I guess that is one way to make this situation worse."

Before Fred could come up with a snappy response a new stream of water appeared in the wall as another bullet of dirt was fired across the room.

"It's no use," panicked Fred, as a third hole appeared, "there are too many."

"We'll have to try and open up the tunnel again," shouted George over the rushing water.

"Right."

They let the hole they were trying to block spring back into life and push their way through the now ankle deep water. Standing next to the plinth the twins tried in vain to work out how it had caused the tunnel to close.

They prodded it, poked it with their wands, shouted at it and finally kicked it, but nothing seemed to make the slightest bit of difference. The water level just kept rising, and the tunnel remained stubbornly shut.

When the water had reached about waist height the bottom half of the far wall suddenly gave way under the pressure. The twins were swept away from the plinth and slammed into the side of the catacomb by a wave of water, stone and dirt.

"Fred you ok?" shouted George spitting out a large mouthful of water.

"I'm fine," replied Fred spluttering as kicked his legs to keep him afloat, "well at least it doesn't seem to be filling up as quickly."

"Yeah, given the choice I would always prefer to drown slowly rather then quickly."

"Hey look at this," cried Fred holding up what looked liked a green cloth.

"Very pretty, but I'm not sure if it is your colour."

"No you idiot… hey I always thought I looked good in green, anyway look its one of those plants we learnt about in Herbology. Remember?"

"Nope, can't say I do."

"You and Lee ended up wrapping them around your heads."

"Oh the hat plants," nodded George swimming over to his brother, "and how does that help us?"

"Because, you idiot, these…" Fred waved the large leaf around splashing water as he did, "are only found in deep fresh water."

"Right."

"Like the lake."

"Oh," gasped George, "you mean this water is coming in from the lake."

"Yep, which means we just have to swim out and we'll be free."

"What if we can't hold our breaths long enough?" asked George deeply concerned.

"Well seeing as the water is still slowly rising either way we are going to have to hold our breaths at some point."

With the twins decided on a plan of action they kicked away from the wall and swam towards the far end of the cave where the wall had collapsed. George gave his brother a silent nod that he was ready, they both took a final lungful of air, transferred their still lit wands from their hands and clamped them into their mouths and dived.

George followed his brother through the submerged opening and they began to kick their way along the eerie looking tunnel. The cold water flowed around their bodies, making them have to swim harder then usual against the slight current.

Gritting his teeth down on the wood of the wand, George grimaced as he tried to shut out his body's urge to shiver against the cold. Suddenly his hand became enveloped in something slimy. Panic surged through his body as he jerked his hand away.

George nearly forgot he was underwater and almost laughed with relief as he realised that he hand had become entangled in a particularly large leaf from an underwater plant. He wriggled his fingers free and pushed the green offender away.

His arms and legs began to ache as he forced himself through water. He could see his brother further along the tunnel swimming out and up into the lake itself. George's lungs began to burn as he gratefully kicked away from the lakebed and up towards the surface.

Kicking as hard as he could George pushed himself away from the bottom of the lake. Above him he could see the faint glimmering light of Fred's illuminating through the gloomy waters. George tried to move his tired legs harder through the water but the lack of sleep, and the wet heavy clothing made it difficult to make much progress.

George's chest felt as if it was about to explode, as he frantically tried to scramble through the water to the fresh air. Bubbles erupted around his face, as a fish darting out of the dark and towards his face spooking him, and causing him to violently exhale the remaining air in his lungs. George grimaced and bore down on the wand between his teeth while he desperately struggled to reach the surface.

He was too tired. The distance to the surface too great. George slowly began to sink back towards the depths of the lake, his vision gradually blurring and fading. Suddenly he felt something wrap itself around his arm and drag him upwards.

He broke the water spluttering and gasping for air as he hurriedly took in much needed oxygen.

"Th…anks….Fred," he managed to say between wheezes.

"Don't thank me," called Fred's voice from a little way off, "thank him."

George looked over at his brother, who was grinning wildly and nodding behind him. He slowly turned his head and looked across at his arm. There was a long thick black tentacle enclosed around his wrist. George's gaze slowly trailed up the length of the slimy arm until he saw the bulk of the Giant Squid silhouetted against the moon.

"Er…cheers," thanked George, still panting slightly.

"He grabbed me then went back to save you," explained Fred swimming over to his brother. Scooping George's dropped wand out of the water he passed it back.

"Thanks," replied George still looking at the Giant Squid a bit awe struck. He shook his head clear and turned to look at the edge of the lake, "I don't think I'll have the energy to swim back."

"No problem brother," grinned Fred, patting the Squid's tentacle, "I had an idea about that."

"You know they never put this in the letter we got last summer," said George a few moments later from atop the back of the creature

"I know," agreed Fred shivering slightly in the cold, "they should have put 'you get to ride on the back of a Giant Squid' rather then all that nonsense about books and equipment."

"Hey," called George squinting into the distance, "are there people on the shore over there?"

"Yeah," agreed Fred warily after a few moments, "I think there are four of them. Just try and act normal."

"Normal?" asked George looking behind him as the squid gave another swoosh with its tentacles sending it gliding along through the water, "I guess anything is worth a try."

As the trio of the twins and the Giant Squid got closer and closer to the bank of the lake, two of the figures on the shore broke away and moved across to meet them. The brothers steeled themselves for the assumed following onslaught of interrogation, however their fears were cast aside once they realised that the two people on the shore were familiar faces.

"Alright Miro," Fred waved as he climbed off the Giant Squid's back, down one of its tentacles and onto the shore.

"Hiya Bruv," added George.

"You are aware that you aren't allowed out of the Tower after dark? Let alone to go riding on the back of the Giant Squid," warned Charlie

"Charlie?" asked Fred slyly as the four boys bade goodbye to the squid, "What are you doing out of the school after dark?"

"Er…"

"Alright," George gave a cheery wave to Miro and Charlie's two companions, which turned out to be one of the girls on the Quidditch team and another Gryffindor girl who he recognised but couldn't name.

There was a moment of silence in the air; the only sound was the occasional hoot from a passing owl and the splashing from the Giant Squid heading back out into deeper waters. Each of the four boys weighed up their next course of action warily.

"O.k." said Charlie slowly, "we didn't see you if you didn't see us."

"Didn't see who?" asked George.

"Exactly."

"No seriously, didn't see who?" asked George again, "I wasn't listening."


	26. Practice Makes Perfect

"You, the horse thing, that's right, you," Fred pointed down at the chess piece, "go and get his erm… pointy thing…"

"Bishop," George corrected as he stretched his arms and yawned.

"…yes get his Bishop."

"Alright guys," beamed Lee plonking a heavy looking bag down next to the comfy armchairs.

"Wotcha Lee," said Fred looking up from the rather evenly matched fight taking place on the board, "I forgot you guys would be back today. Good holidays?"

"They weren't too bad I guess," admitted Lee flopping down onto a beanbag, "it was nice having a bedroom to myself for a change."

"What's that suppose to mean?" asked George accusingly.

"It means you snore."

"So do you."

"Yeah but me snoring isn't going to keep me awake is it?"

"Don't worry about it," cut in Fred, giving the air a quick celebratory punch as his knight finally defeated the bishop, "I've had to put up with his snoring for years."

"Well what about you?" asked George. He gave one of his rooks a tap on the head and sent it after Fred's knight, which was still rejoicing.

"I don't snore."

"Yes you do."

"Well how come I have never heard it?"

George opened his mouth but wasn't quite sure where to start. Fred of course mistook this pause as him having won and promptly sat back in his chair looking smug.

"Anyway," said Lee slowly as he tried to changed the subject, "how did it go?"

"Not too good," replied Fred since George was still sitting there opened mouth with a bemused look on his face, "we managed to get in to Slytherin and get the fourth piece but the compass suddenly snapped shut and we can't open it again."

"You're asleep," said George disbelievingly.

"So it was just a waste of time then?" said Lee shaking his head.

"That's why you don't hear yourself snore, you're asleep."

"Well that all depends on whether on not the word 'Litha' means anything to you," Fred corrected hopefully.

"It's not something that is too hard to understand. I mean you're unconscious."

"Sorry doesn't ring a bell," shrugged Lee much to the disappointment of Fred, "have you tried the library?"

"George, just let it go ok," ordered Fred as he sent another one of his chess piece across the board, "yeah Lee we checked in the library, but without knowing what Litha meantwe didn't know where to start. We would have to check every single book in there, but my brain isn't cut out for all that reading."

"So what are we going to do?" wondered Lee forlornly.

"There isn't much we can do," concluded George glumly, "well aside from checking every book like Fred said."

"But that could take months."

"Try years," corrected Fred, "and plus we'd have to sneak into the Restricted Section at night to check in there."

"Well that's just perfect isn't it," complained Lee letting out a huge sigh. He looked down at the board where a very depleted group of white pieces were making a valiant final stand against George's unforgiving black side. "Stupid Litha," he mumbled.

"Litha?" asked Alicia sitting down cross legged on the floor next to the board, "such an awful name don't you think? Fred take his knight, it's undefended."

"Litha's a name?" asked George very slowly staring at the girl with wide eyes.

"Yeah," shrugged Alicia looking between the three boys and wondering what was so fascinating about a name, "that's what they called my cousin, cos of what day she was born on."

"Er…what day was she born on?" Fred said trying to appear casual, but failing completely.

"June twenty first, Midsummer's Day which is apparently also called Litha, hence the name. My uncle married a muggle who's a bit strange and into all that weird old world stuff," Alicia added as a way of explaining.

"Alicia?" asked a surprised looking Angelina who had strolled into the Common Room a few moments later, "what are you doing up there?"

"I… I…don't…know," replied Alicia as she wobbled uncertainly on top of Fred and George's shoulders, "they just, sort of, picked me up."

The twins proceeded to dance around the Common Room with a very confused looking Alicia held high. Eventually, with the help of a passing prefect, order was restored and calm once again returned to the room. Alicia was led away by Angelina who was still wiping away tears and chuckling quietly to herself, while the twins and Lee crowded back around the chess board to work out a game plan.

"June the twenty-first," whispered Lee excitedly.

"Hang on," George frowned, "would we still be here then?"

"I think so," replied Lee quickly, jumping up to examine the Common Room notice board before sliding back into his seat, "yeah we finish that week, the train will take us home on the 27th, oh and Reggie Brown in the third year is looking to trade for a Carther Zendu chocolate frog card."

"Excellent that's good to know."

"Yeah I haven't got that card," said Lee excitedly, "I wonder if he would swap it for a Fruchious Malando card, I have about six of them."

"No Lee, I meant it's good that we'll still be here for the twenty-first. It gives us plenty of time to get prepared," Fred highlighted, "what do you think George?"

"Well I doubt that a Malando card is worth swapping for a Zendu, you might have to offer something on top," admitted George solemnly.

By the time the first week of the last term of school was over it had become apparent that things were going to be a bit quieter over the next few months within Gryffindor House. Those students studying for their OWL's and NEWT's spent as much free time as possible holed up in the library or attempting to find some quiet time in Common Room, something which wasn't always possible given the twin's natural ability to create noise and havoc. On top of that Charlie was working the Quidditch team very hard as this was the closest they had come to winning the cup since Charlie's second year.

"Come on!" shouted Charlie during one practice, "just keep the passes simple, don't try anything too fancy!"

"How's it going?" asked Angelina sitting down on the grass next to the Quidditch pitch.

"I think they might be trying too hard," concluded Fred as they watched another wayward pass fly through the air.

"Well it's a lot of pressure," said Lee nodding hello to Alicia as she joined her friend and the three boys, "we haven't been this close in years apparently."

"They look exhausted," Alicia commented looking up as Miro just about managed to make a catch by stretching his arm out wide.

"They've been at it since dinner," replied George leaning back on the grass, "I'm surprised none of them have passed out yet."

"Yeah they're practically asleep on their brooms, well except that Wood guy. He's worse then Charlie," Lee pointed up at the goal posts where the Gryffindor Keeper in question was barking orders left and right while still occasionally finding the time to save any shots that came his way, "I think he and Charlie would have the team out here all night if they could."

"Well I doubt that'll happen," said Alicia slyly.

"How come?"

"Cos here comes the Slytherin lot."

The three boys and Angelina turned to look at where Alicia was pointing. Striding out onto the pitch were the very gruff looking Slytherin team with their brooms slung over their shoulders. Even though they were wearing their traditional robes of green and black, they would have been unmistakable whatever they had on since every single member of the team was heavily built and seemed to lurch across the grass rather then just simply walk.

"Shouldn't they be dragging their knuckles along the floor or something?" asked Angelina as the group of five watch them plodding by.

Miro was the first from the team to spot the intruders on the field and flew up alongside Charlie to let him know. Soon the whole team had landed, including the Beaters who had managed to catch a Bludger each but were struggling with them as they tried to break free. Not ones to miss out on a good bit of gossip the twins had dragged the other three onto the pitch join in the conference.

"Flint isn't it?" Charlie addressed the board shouldered boy at the front of the Slytherin procession, "what are you doing here?"

"What does it look like?" sneered Flint causing his team to laugh mirthlessly, "we're here to practice."

"But we were here first," explained Charlie keeping his voice even.

"So? We booked the pitch for this evening."

"What do you mean you booked it?" asked a confused Miro, "you don't need to book the pitch."

"You do now," Flint replied, grinning evilly, as he handed a permission slip to Charlie to read, "it was Professor Snape's idea, he wanted to make sure that every team got a fair amount of time to practice."

"Snape? Fair?" asked Angelina unbelievingly, "did the school hire another Professor Snape recently or something?"

"This matter only concerns the Quidditch teams," Flint replied malevolently, giving Angelina a dirty look "not their groupies."

"Hey, don't talk to her like that," snapped Lee squaring up to Flint, or at least squaring up to his chest since the Slytherin Captain was a good foot taller then him.

"Or you'll do what?" snorted Flint derisively, then suddenly jerked his head forward causing Lee to flinch, "didn't think so. You're all talk. I guess that's why they put you in Gryffindor."

"Yeah, well…" stammered Lee trying to think of a witty comeback, "you're ugly."

"Oh come on Lee," scolded Fred wagging a finger, "there is no need to go straight for the obvious."

"At least be a bit creative," added George shaking his head, "I mean look at him, he gives you so much to work with. Clearly he looks stupid, you could have started with that maybe…"

"Or the way he has his hair cut," Fred pointed out, "you know the way it looks like a blind House-Elf with one hand has used a carving knife on it…"

"And even if you are going to start with his looks," said George solemnly putting a hand on his friends shoulder, "don't just gloss over it by saying he is ugly…"

"Yeah, at least point out specific reasons why he is so hideous," lectured Fred, pointing at Flint's head, "like those ears…"

"…the ones that look like they have been cursed on for a joke?" interrupted George.

"…they're the ones," smiled Fred before studying Flint's face again, "or the nose which lets face it wouldn't look out of place on Hobgoblin's bottom."

"Why you little…" Flint went to make a grab for Fred but suddenly found his forearm gripped by Charlie.

"Careful Flint," Charlie said calmly, as Flint tried to unsuccessfully wrench his arm back, "I just saved you from making a very bad mistake, you should say thank you."

Flint eventually gave up trying to free himself from Charlie's vice like grip and red-faced muttered, "thank you."

"Come on guys," said Charlie taking the Quaffle off of Miro, "we're done for the night anyway."

"Yeah," added Miro following his friend off the field, "besides, it's starting to smell a bit around here."

The Gryffindors left the field to the Slytherin team and an angry looking Flint to start packing their equipment away at the side of the pitch. There was a large box into which they fitted the various different types of ball Charlie placed the Quaffle into its place and took the Snitch out from his pocket where it had remained unused for the duration of the practice. Next the two Beaters struggled to push the Bulgers they were holding into the spots reserved for them.

With the rest of the team heading off to get changed it just left Miro and Charlie to bring the large wooden box back up to Gryffindor House.

"Need any help?" asked Fred as they two older boys lifted up the box, taking a side each.

"No," said Miro shaking his head, "it's not that heavy," he lifted up his end a little higher to demonstrate.

"That's good cos I was only being polite."

"My selfless brother ladies and gentlemen," Charlie said sarcastically. Something caught his eye and he looked up suddenly before shouting, "watch out!"

The group only had enough time to turn before a Bludger came hurtling towards them. It struck Lee heavily on the side of his head sending him sprawling onto the ground. Charlie dropped his side of the box and dived on top of the wayward ball as it went passed.

"Sorry," shouted a voice from the pitch, the twins looked up from their unconscious friend to see a smirking Flint holding a Beater's bat, "just showing the boys here how to hit a Bludger properly, must have misaimed it. Is he ok?"

"That complete…" Charlie spat out a swearword that would have made even a banshee blush.

"Easy Charlie," said Miro letting go of his side of the box to stop his friend from charging back onto the pitch, "you can't start a fight with them. Snape will see to it that you get banned from the last match for sure. Besides we've got to take Lee up to the Hospital Wing."

"Fine," conceded Charlie reluctantly. He let go of the Bludger, which then rocketed back up into the air and towards the Slytherin team who could be heard laughing to themselves.

With Miro's help and the two girls fussing around, Charlie lifted Lee over his shoulder.

"Can you two take the box back up to the Common Room? It goes under the stairs on the boys'side," he said turning to his younger brothers who were still looking malevolently at the Slytherins.

"Is that it?" demanded Fred, "you're going to let him get away with that?"

"Fred didn't you hear Miro," Charlie said carefully, turning to the twins, and looking at them pointedly "I can't start a fight with them over this."

Fred watched them leaving glumly as he and George were left with the box.

"I can't believe that they are going to get away with that," spat Fred.

"Didn't you hear Charlie?"

"Yeah, yeah," Fred mimicked his older brother's voice, "he can't start a fight over this."

"Nope," George grinned evilly at his twin, "but we can."


	27. Snakes, Badgers and Flamingos

"How is he?" asked George. He and Fred had returned the box of Quidditch equipment back into the Gryffindor Common Room and had headed back down to the Hospital Wing to check on Lee. They met Charlie and Miro who were on their way back.

"He should be fine," said Charlie, "it only slightly got him. Madam Pomfrey gave him something to wake him up, but it was still a bit groggy."

"Bloody Flint," swore Miro shaking his head, "he could have really hurt someone."

"Oh don't worry about him," smiled Fred slyly.

"We got your meaning when you said that you couldn't start a fight," George have his older brother a wink and nudged him in the ribs with his elbow, "anyway we're off to see Lee."

"Tell him to get better," called Miro at the retreating twins.

"Or at the very least learn to duck faster," added Charlie.

"So you honestly think sending those two after Flint is going to work?" Miro asked when the twins fell out of earshot, "you don't think it is a bit of an uneven contest."

"Oh it's completely uneven, but I doubt Flint will be seriously hurt."

"Alright Lee?" said Fred sitting down next to Angelina.

"What's this now, the third time you have ended up in here?" asked George as he joined Alicia on the other side of the bed, "would it be easier to move you down here for good?"

"Hey, it beats listening to you two snore."

"Er…he's lying, I don't snore." Fred informed Angelina who had sniggered.

"Sure," grinned Angelina before pushing herself out of the seat, "look, we had better be going. Thanks again Lee."

She kissed Lee kindly on the forehead and left the Hospital Wing chattering away to Alicia.

"What was that about?" George asked a very happy looking Lee.

"Well the Bludger was heading straight towards Angelina," explained Lee grinning wildly, "and I heroically pushed her out of the way in time, but ending up getting hurt myself."

"Oh right," said Fred. He paused for a moment, "so what really happened?"

"Er…I tried to get out the way, tripped over my laces and accidentally pushed Angelina over."

"So heroic," announcedFred placing a hand dramatically over his heart. He pointed at Lee's freshly bandaged head, "how's the noggin?"

"Sore," replied Lee touching the bandage with his hand, "but Madam Pomfrey says I only got a slight graze so I should be up and about in no time."

"Good to hear."

"So any ideas who hit me with that Bludger?"

"I'll give you three guesses," said George giving his friend a knowing look.

"Flint?"

"Got it in one."

"Git," spat Lee shaking his head furiously before winching with pain.

"Don't worry about him Lee," reassured Fred, "we've something special planned for him."

"Really? What?" asked Lee excitedly.

"Nope, can't tell you, we'd rather have this as a surprise."

"You must have come up with a plan quickly," commented George when the had finally be ordered out of the Hospital Wing by Madam Pomfrey for making Lee laugh to hard with their jokes.

"Actually I haven't got a clue," admitted Fred, "but we had to give Lee something to smile about."

"Don't worry, I'm sure we can come up with something."

Over the next few days the twins didn't just come up with something, they invented a whole range of things to do to the Slytherin team with varying degrees of success. The Keeper somehow managed to ingest some Gobbledegook Potion and spent most of one evening shouting out complete and utter nonsense to anyone who happened to be passing. One of the Beaters ended up in detention after Filch caught him writing obscenities on a corridor wall, despite his claims of innocence the caretaker had managed to apprehend him with the paintbrush in his hand. The Seeker spent a rather unpleasant morning after he repeatedly found Stinkpellets lodged into the sole of his shoe. By the time one of the Chasers had broken out in ugly looking spots, Flint had decided that someone was out to sabotage his team. As such every single player was given an escort of fellow Slytherins when they were walking between classes and the incidents seemed to cease.

"I can't believe we still haven't got Flint," complained Fred as he looked out of the window and across to the Quidditch pitch where the Slytherin team were practicing.

"Yeah I know," replied George joining his brother at the window, "especially after we snuck that Gobbledegook Potion into his drink."

"Well it wasn't his drink, was it?"

"I know that now."

"What I don't understand," cut in Lee who had completely recovered from his latest stint in the Hospital Wing, "is how you managed to get Maxwell to write rude words on the walls."

"Ahh," grinned Fred walking away from the window and sitting down on his bed, "we sort of just levitated the paint brush towards him."

"And he caught it I take it?"

"Yep," nodded George, "I mean it's just natural isn't it? If something comes at you, you automatically go to catch it. Watch."

"Ow," complained Fred rubbing his forehead, which had just been hit by a box of Exploding Snap cards, "what did you do that for?"

"You were suppose to catch it," George sighed walking over to his brother's bed and picking his cards up.

"A little warning would have been good."

"Well, anyway. If something came towards anyone who actually has reflexes," George looked away from Lee and glared at his brother when he said this, "they would normally catch it."

"Ok I get that bit," admitted Lee, "but how come he was still holding it when Filch came around the corner."

"I'm not really sure," conceded George frowning slightly, "maybe his brain was a bit too slow…"

"…or he just panicked and forgot to drop it," added Fred.

"Actually now I think about it, maybe it was because we covered the handle in glue before we floated it at him."

"Ahh yeah I think they might have had something to do with it," agreed Fred.

"Shame you never managed to get that Flint," frowned Lee looking at his forehead in a mirror.

"Oh don't worry we'll get him," consoled George as Lee began rubbing his forehead, "look will you stop doing that."

"Yeah," agreed Fred, "you aren't going to get a scar so stop looking at your head will you?"

"Yeah I know," sighed Lee looking forlornly in the mirror, "it's just that scars are well… a bit manly aren't they."

There was an excited buzz going through the school over the next few days as people began to get geared up for the forthcoming Hufflepuff /Slytherin match. By the time it had reached the morning of the match pretty much everyone in Gryffindor were walking around Hogwarts sporting yellow and black badges or scarves. The importance of a good performance from the Badgers had become so intense that Charlie and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team had taken to joining the Hufflepuff side during practices so that they could have some competition to test themselves against.

"Good luck," George called out to the Captain of the Hufflepuffs as he passed him on his way through the Great Hall. He looked up from a rather messy looking piece of parchment that he and Charlie were examining intently, and nodded an acknowledgement.

"So what's Charlie doing with him?" asked George sliding into the seat next to Angelina.

"Oh nothing," admitted Angelina, spearing a lone sausage with her fork, "Charlie was just giving him some tips on the Slytherin team."

"I think we want Hufflepuff to win more then they do," said Lee taking a large gulp of orange.

"Well, its not every year that we get a chance to win the Quidditch Cup," Alicia pointed out.

"Er… it's only our first year."

"And what's your point Lee?"

"Well so far for us every year we have been here we have had a chance to win the Cup."

"Very clever," replied Alicia sarcastically, "how come you are never that smart during our morning lessons?"

"Well I don't like to show off in class," admitted Lee graciously.

"Ok now I know I have only just got here," cut in Fred as he plonked himself down into the seat opposite his brother, "but whatever it is you are talking about I know that Lee is lying."

"Thanks. It's so nice that I can count on the support of my friends."

"Er… Fred?"

"Yes Angelina. Hey George pass us the bacon will you?"

"What's wrong with your hands?"

Everyone looked down at Fred's hands, which were covered in blotchy pink stains. He frowned at them and tried wiping them against his trousers but they remained as discoloured as before.

"It's just a skin thing I get sometime," explained Fred dismissing waving one of his blemished hands, "more importantly where as the sausages?"

The group slowly ate their breakfast as they animatedly discussed the upcoming match. The only real distraction came when the Hufflepuff team stood up to get ready for the match and they were greeted by a chorus of cheers from their own table as well as those students from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. There were some hisses, boos and catcalls coming from the Slytherin table but these were drowned out by the thunderous applause.

"I better head down to the pitch and get ready," said Lee wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and jumping up.

"Ok good luck," Fred said before leaning in close and whispering, "oh and keep your eye out for anything unusual with the Slytherin team."

"What do you mean by unusual?"

"You know," grinned Fred secretively, "not normal."

"Well 'not normal' describes the whole Slytherin team."

Despite further attempts to coax the secret out of Fred, Lee eventually left the hall without being enlightened and headed off down to the pitch. The girls soon left to make sure they could be guaranteed the best views for the game. This left the twins in an increasingly sparse Great Hall.

"Did you manage it?" asked George once he was sure that no one was in earshot.

"Yep.You know I almost feel bad."

"Really?"

"Nope."

As the twins laughed to themselves in the Great Hall, Angelina and Alicia settled down into their chosen spots at the midway point of the pitch, and Lee went over some hastily scribbled notes, Flint was going over a last minute pep talk for the Slytherin team.

"No mercy lads," he ordered, stalking up the middle of the changing room while the rest of the team nodded in agreement.

"I've been watching them in practice, they have been concentrating on putting together quick passes between the Chasers before they finally shoot. But you can't pass to a Chaser if they are unconscious can you?"

This comment brought a ripple of mirthless laughter from the team.

"So when the Quaffle is at one end of the pitch I want any of you that are at the other end to give the nearest Hufflepuff a quick clatter. If Hooch spots you make sure you complain loudly. More than likely she'll fly over to have a word and while she is distracted the rest of us can give the nearest Hufflepuff a dig."

"You two," Flint pointed at the two heavyset Beaters who were each carrying the large clubs required for their position, "I want you to take care of their Seeker. Every Bludger that you two hit, I want it going in the direction of him. Take him out the game."

"No problem," grunted the Beaters in reply.

"Right, it's nearly time," Flint looked up at a large clock on the wall of the changing room, and nodded towards a large trunk at the end of the room, "let's get ready."

The nearest member of the team, a young but still stocky looking boy with sandy hair, pushed himself up from his seat, walked over to the trunk, and flicked up the two large latches on it. He breathed out hard as he heaved open the top of the trunk. Looking down he blinked uncertainly at what he saw.

"Er…Marcus? I think you should see this."

The Quidditch pitch was brimming to capacity with students, teachers, parents and visitors. The twins fought their way through the stairs and along one of the walkways, jostling people as they made their way against the tide of shoulders and elbows.

"Ow watch it," complained Fred holding a hand over his eye.

"Here's a good spot," said George leaning against a barrier.

"That's if I can see with just one eye."

"It can't be that bad," scorned George, "put it this way how many fingers am I holding up?"

"You've got…hey!" snapped Fred in response to George's gesture, which would have certainly got him a lengthy sentence of washing up duties if their mother had seen him do it.

"Well I guess your eye is fine then."

Before Fred could come up with a witty comeback, Lee's voice came booming out across the Quidditch pitch, so he settled for punching his brother in the arm.

"Welcome students, teachers and guests, to this hotly contended match between Hufflepuff and Slytherin!"

In response to this announcement the crowd went wild, cheering, whistling, whooping and just generally creating a din.

"Now the Hufflepuff team has already been on the pitch for a while now."

The team dressed in yellow and black robes carried out a quick lap of honour, flying in formation close to the stands, much to the delight of Hufflepuff House.

"But for some reason Slytherin still haven't come out of the changing rooms yet, maybe they are scared of this new-look Hufflepuff side."

A chorus of catcalls, hisses and theatrical boos echoed across from the Slytherin end of the stand.

"If they leave it any later, they run the risk of being disqualified under the rules and forfeiting the match one hundred and fifty points to zero," Lee carried on announcing, raising his voice over the rumpus. He lent over the wooden barrier in front of him and squinted down towards the team entrances. "And it looks like the Slytherin team have finally decided to turn up to the game."

The Slytherin supporters greeted their team with a loud fanfare, which was swiftly silenced as Flint led his side out onto the pitch. It was then replaced by confused murmurings before being substituted for a gradual ripple of laugher that eventually cascaded into complete pandemonium.

"Well it looks like the Slytherin team have decided to break with tradition," commentated Lee trying to control his giggles, "instead of their usual green and silver robes it seems they have decided to go with well what can only be described as… pink."

Sure enough standing on the edge of the grass were the seven burly members of the Slytherin team dressed head to top in robes that make them resemble a group of blushing flamingos. Each one of them wore a look of complete fury on their faces as the laughter echoed around them.

"It seems an unusual tactic from the Slytherin Captain," said Lee above the wolf whistles emanating from the Gryffindor section of the students, "but I'm sure that what ever has made Marcus Flint choose to send his side out in such a bizarre colour was a well thought out move."

"Perfect, just perfect," grinned George as Madam Hooch blew her whistle and the teams began rocketing around the stadium, "good choice of shade by the way."

"Oh don't thank me for that," replied Fred feigning bashfulness, "thank the good people at Mrs Mellory's Fabric and Clothing Dyes. I just hope this stuff comes off my hands."

"Yeah, you wouldn't want to be caught red handed now would you?"

"Yeah, Flint would kill us."

"No no, red handed," George pointed at his brother's hands, "Get it?"

"But they're pink."


	28. Champions of the School

Despite Slytherin's victory in their final match of the year the occupants of Hogwarts were much more enveloped with teasing them about the pink Quidditch robes. Unfortunately the team were not really noted for their ability to shrug off insults but more for their ability to inflict damage, which was the main reason why several scuffles and skirmishes had broken out around the school over the next week or so.

By the time the final game of the season came around the entire of Slytherin House had adapted a siege mentality about the whole thing which, along with the fighting, had pretty much completely alienated them from the other Houses.

It was no longer a case of who would win the cup between the two Houses but more like the rest of the school versus Slytherin, Everywhere they went Charlie, Miro and the rest of the team where given hearty welcomes, slaps on the back and wishes of good luck in the forth-coming match, even some of the Ravenclaw students were offering their support.

"Give them hell guys."

"Cheers," waved Miro as the team headed down towards the pitch to train.

"Who was that?" ask Charlie.

"No idea. You know, I think I could get use to this," Miro flashed a group of Hufflepuff girls a grin as they went by, "imagine what'll happen if we win."

"Yeah, I mean the first thing we'd have to do is widen the doors of the school."

"Why?"

"Well how else would you fit your inflated head through them?"

"I'd use the window or something," shrugged Miro, "well it's not the same as the rest of us as it is for you."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you already won the cup back in your second year."

"True, but it'll be nice to win it as Captain," admitted Charlie

"Hey guys," Miro nodded at George, Fred and Lee who were coming towards them, "what have you been doing?"

"Studying," replied Fred.

Miro and Charlie looked at the twins and their friend. Normally under the most straightforward circumstances it would be safe to assume that studying was the last thing on the twins' minds. The fact the three young Gryffindors were covered in dirt from head to toe, carrying a spade each and were currently giving off a less than pleasant smell, seemed to reduce the likelihood of school work even more.

"Really? Studying?" asked Charlie raising an eyebrow.

"Yep, we have been studying hard on homework," nodded George, "except replace the word 'studying' with 'gardening'…"

"…and the word 'homework' with 'detention'," added Fred.

"What did you do now?" sighed Charlie.

"Well it's so hard to keep track of specifics. Filch said we were in detention and that we knew what we had done," shrugged George. He turned to his brother, "I think I'm putting my money on releasing those Imps in the Prefect's bathroom."

"See, I would have gone with that small fire we started in Greenhouse one," Fred saw the look Charlie gave him, "by accident."

"Splashing Mungra with that Hair-Raising Potion would be my vote," added Lee swinging his spade over his shoulder.

"Oi you two get those spades put away," ordered Filch walking past the group, "maybe next time you'll think twice before filling my jacket pockets with stink bugs."

"Ohhh yeah," said George slowly, "I forgot about that one. How did you find out?"

As though she had just been waiting for the right time to turn up, Mrs Norris slinked around Filch's leg and gave the twins a evil looking scowl, her tail swishing back and forth.

"Bloody cat," said Fred miserably as a triumphant Filch walked away, cooing softly to his pet, "I thought I had seen that filthy thing skulking around when we left those presents for Filch."

"Are you two ever going to learn to stay out of Filch's way?" asked Miro shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" frown George.

"Well if you leave Filch alone then he won't have a reason to punish you," Charlie pointed out.

"Right…" said Fred frowning as he slowly looked between the two older boys.

"And you won't spend so much time in detention."

"I don't get it."

"Just stay out of his way ok," warned Charlie. He looked down towards the Quidditch pitch where the rest of the team were warming up, "see you later."

"Stupid Filch," complained George, "Charlie's right, we should get him back."

"Er… I don't remember him saying that," frowned Lee.

"Yeah, we should listen to our older brother," nodded Fred with a determined look on his face.

"Do you guys only hear what you want to hear?" asked Lee.

"Good idea Lee, I could do with some cake."

Two long showers and a quick bath later the three boys had finally managed to get rid of the rather terrible smell that they had managed to pick up from their earlier escapades with Filch. They then set about working out how best to get the caretaker back.

"This is such a bad idea," whispered Lee.

"Relax," reassured George as the three boys crept along the corridor each carrying a large bag, "Filch is chasing Peeves around the Awards room."

"Yeah but he still gonna know it is us that did it."

"How?"

"Who else would it be?"

"Er… you know I think he has a point," Fred frowned as he paused to check the Marauder's Map once again, "but hey, as long as he can't prove it he can't really punish us can he?" Fred looked sceptically at the other two, "yeah, fair enough."

"Well the fact that he'll automatically assume it is us and do everything he can to punish us for it, is a very good argument to not do this," admitted George looking serious, "however there is a perfectly good reason why we should."

"And that is?"

"What else are we going to do with three large bags of Egyptian Glow Worms?"

"You got to admit," said Fred putting a hand on Lee's shoulder, "he makes a good case."

"Yeah, flawless," replied Lee sarcastically.

"Here we are," whispered George as the three boys reach Filch's offices, "you know I think we have spent more time in here then anywhere else."

"Not me," disagreed Lee. The other two gave him a look so he felt he should give an explanation, "the Hospital Wing," he reminded them.

"Oh yeah. Anyway… Alohomora."

A small beam of light shot out of the end of George's wand and struck the keyhole on the door. A small click could be heard and he triumphantly turned the handle and pushed it open.

"Ok, stick them in all the drawers of the file cabinets," ordered Fred once they were inside.

The three boys took to their task inearnest, quickly tipping up their bags and depositing a large amount of the worms into as many drawers as they could.

"Shouldn't they be glowing?" asked Lee, peering into a recently filled drawer.

"Probably not dark enough yet," shrugged George tipping his bag upside-down, "you guys done?"

"Yeah," agreed Fred and Lee in unison, both holding up their empty bags as proof.

The boys closed all the cabinets and,with one final check to make sure they hadn't left anything out of place, they quietly slipped back out into the hall.

"Wish we could see his face when he opens one of those drawers," said Lee, his face breaking into a smile as he pictured the moment.

"Serves him right for being such a git," Fred stated firmly.

The boys quickly slipped through the school using a series of hidden shortcuts, and cutting across through a corridor on the seventh floor. They had abandoned their previous caution and were now openly chatting about Filch's possible reactions.

"What do you reckon?" said George, "he screams, then leaps back, then starts shouting."

"No, I think he'd just go straight into the shouting," corrected Lee, "he seems to enjoy doing that. What's up with you?" he asked Fred who had just sworn under his breath.

"I think we have a problem."

Fred pointed to the map. It showed the three boys standing in the middle of a long corridor, off of one end of it was approaching Mrs Norris and from the other was Filch.

"We're trapped," panicked Lee, looking quickly back and forth between the two ends.

"Ok let me think of something," whispered Fred harshly his eyes flicking over the map looking for a way out.

"How about we just run past Mrs Norris?" ventured George, as the soft glow from Filch's lamp appeared at one end.

"We can't, Filch will hear us."

Lee swore under his breath and paced drastically back and forth trying to think of a way out. As the twins began bickering between themselves he looked directly ahead and saw that there was a door straight in front of them.

"Er… guys, how about we hide in there?"

"Don't be stupid George, I doubt we'd be able to learn how to become Animagus in the next ten seconds. What was that Lee?"

Lee just pointing a finger at the door.

"Perfect," exclaimed George leaping forward, twisting the handle and bundling inside swiftly followed by the other two.

They barely managed to squeeze themselves inside the tiny room, which was full of mops, buckets and brooms.

"Must be a storage cupboard," whispered Fred, trying to look around.

"Yeah I'm amazed we didn't spot it before," replied George dislodging a broom handle from digging into his side, "I mean it was right in front of us."

"You know," said Lee slowly as thought he wasn't completely sure of what he was about to say, "I don't think that door is there normally, I mean we come along this corridor all the time and I don't remember seeing it."

"In any other school I think you'd be crazy," admitted Fred, "but disappearing doors seem quite natural here. Though I can't see why anyone would want to hide a broom cupboard."

Filch grumbled his way up the corridor, a dimly lit lamp casting creepy looking shadows along the walls slung back and forth in his hand. He had a malevolent smile etched onto his face as he stalked through the dark passageway. It disappeared swiftly when he looked down to spot his beloved pet slinking into view.

"Did anyone get past you?" asked Filch frowning.

In response Mrs Norris just glared up at him and gave a quick flick of its tail.

"I could swear I heard voices," mumbled Filch.

Inside the broom cupboard the three boys held their breath as the looked down at the Marauder's Map. The two tiny dots denoting Filch and his cat were right outside where the three boys would be. Any minute now Filch would decide to open the door and be greeted by Fred, George and Lee squashed together in the room.

Suddenly Fred let out a long sigh of relief. Filch and Mrs Norris were heading back down the corridor away from the room. Once the boys were satisfied that the coast was clear George turned the handle of the door and they fell forward into a heap in the corridor while the door sprang back and closed.

"Why didn't he try the door?" asked Lee pushing himself off the ground then helping the others up.

"Cheers Lee," said George taking his friend's hand and pulling himself up, "no idea, it's not as if it wasn't an obvious hiding place."

"Er…guys?" Fred paused midway through dusting himself down and pointed: the doorway to the broom cupboard had disappeared

"That's why he didn't try the handle," said Lee walking over to look at the space where the door use to be, "he probably couldn't see it."

"What I don't get," George wondered aloud while Lee tapped the wall whilst pressing his ear against it, "is what is the point of having a vanishing room full of mops and cleaning stuff?"

"Weird," concluded Lee looking at the bare wall.

The next day the twins and Lee were enjoying another hearty breakfast, and were soon joined by Alica and Angelina who brought some interesting news.

"Did you guys hear about Filch?"

"Filch…Filch…," said George softly looking thoughtful, "you know the name does ring a bell."

"Idiot," Angelina gave him a friendly punch on the arm as she sat down next to him, "anyway somehow all his filing cabinets were filled with Japanese Fire Worms."

"Er…Fire Worms?" asked Lee giving the twins a quick glance.

"We heard they were Egyptian Glow Worms," said Fred trying to sound causal, "you know the kind we were looking at in Herbology. Good for the roots of plants, light up at night, smell awful but not dangerous. Does that ring any bells?"

"Yeah I remember. You copied my essay on them."

"No Angelina I checked your essay for spelling mistakes for you," corrected Fred indignantly.

"Is that why you said 'Angelina can I copy from your essay'?"

"I only said that because I didn't want to embarrass you about your spelling."

"Your spelling is worse then mine. Anyway," Angelina held up her hand to stop Fred from arguing any further, "the Fire Worms look a lot like the Glow Worms but with one slight difference."

"And that is?" asked George.

"Rather then just Glow when they are scared they… well… sort of explode."

"Explode?" asked a wide-eyed Lee.

"Yeah," giggled Alicia, "apparently all of his files got wrecked."

"You shouldn't laugh Alicia, it could have set the school on fire," scolded Angelina, who despite herself ended up breaking into a smile, "well it was a little bit funny I guess."

Filch spent the next few days being mercilessly intolerant to every single student in the school, punishing them for even the smallest indiscretion. If McGonagall hadn't been around to overrule him, Filch would most certainly have dragged one poor unfortunate Hufflepuff boy off to detention for walking too loudly between classrooms. But even Filch at his worst couldn't temper any of the excitement or expectation that was filtering through the school. The final Quidditch match of the year was coming up and for the first time in a while there was a chance of a House other then Slytherin winning.

Although it was completely out of the hands of Slytherin House, it didn't stop them from trying to tip the game in the favour of Ravenclaw. The usual cat calling and bickering between Slytherin and Gryffindor had escalated to some small scuffles and attempts at hexing one another in the corridors.

The desire to see anyone but Slytherin win the cup for a change even led to some murmurs from Ravenclaws that they wouldn't mind losing the match. This type of talk was soon put to an end when it reached the ears of Professor Snape, who immediately descended on the Ravenclaw team and informed them in no uncertain terms that they would all be placed in detention if he thought they were trying to throw the match.

"This'll be brilliant," exclaimed George as he looked down onto the pitch.

"I know," agreed Fred draping a large Gryffindor banner over the side of barrier, "can't wait to see Snape's face when we win."

Suddenly the tannoy leapt into life and Lee's voice boomed around the stadium sending up a huge cheer from all the expectant students.

"Welcome students, teachers, parents, governors and guests to the final match in the Quidditch Cup," he had to shout this last bit as the crowd erupted into a fresh batch of applause.

"It's Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor," screamed Lee to another uproar of noise, which resonated louder as each of the teams took to the field and did a lap of honour.

"Madam Hooch releases the Bludgers, there goes the Golden Snitch and the Quaffle is in place and we are off."

Both teams immediately swung into action, Miro grabbed the Quaffle from the fingertips of a Ravenclaw Chaser and sped towards the opposition goal. In the flurry of activity Charlie lost sight of the Snitch and decided to slowly fly higher and higher to get a better view of the whole pitch. His rival Seeker who'd had a similar idea soon joined him.

"Alright," nodded Charlie, "it's Hicks isn't it? You're in the year below."

"Yeah," agreed Hicks as his eyes darted around the pitch looking for his prize.

"You a Puddlemere United fan," Charlie pointed at a badge on Hicks' robes.

"Yep."

"How's the studying for the O.W.L.'s going?" asked Charlie chatting away as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"Tough," replied Hicks still distractedly gazing about.

"You're going out with Kate Churcher aren't you?" Charlie pointed at the Chaser in question as she rocketed by below them Quaffle in hand with Miro trying to chase her down.

"What? No." Hicks frowned shaking his head and finally making eye contact with Charlie for the first time.

"Really?" asked Charlie sounding surprised, "well she is always talking about you in our lessons."

"She is?" grinned Hicks.

"All the time," admitted Charlie, his eyes flickering over Hicks' shoulder at what had looked like a glimmer of gold, "plus she is always looking in your direction."

"No she's not," dismissed Hicks before leaning in closer to Charlie, "does she?"

"All the time," Charlie reiterated, he looked conspiratorially around, his eyes sweeping the stadium, "even now she keeps looking up at you rather then the game."

"Really?" Hicks jerked his head down to try and spot the girl.

"Ooo you just missed her," consoled Charlie, "tell you what, just look away and I'll tell you when she is looking in your direction."

"Ok," agreed Hicks looking away from the pitch completely.

"Wait…wait…" said Charlie slowly as his eyes flicked desperately around the arena before fixing upon their target, "ok she's just next to our goal, and she'll looking…now!"

Hicks quickly looked down at the far side of the pitch where the rather lone figure of Wood was circling between his posts. Frowning Hicks glanced left and right but couldn't see Churcher anywhere, he turned back to Charlie to ask his a question but suddenly found he was all on his own.

"Amazing," shouted Lee into the microphone, "I don't know how he did it but Charlie Weasley somehow managed to make Hicks look the other way while he made a play for the Snitch. Look at Weasley go! He's chasing down that Snitch like his life depended on it."

Charlie was flying right at the edge of the pitch, circling it at great speed as he tried to catch the small golden ball, he could see the excited faces of the crowd whiz by but all he was concentrating on was the Snitch in front of him. He reached out his hand. He could feel the light fluttery wings flicking against his fingertips. He let out a huge cry of triumph as he went to close his hand around the prize.

WHAM!

"Oh my god and Hicks came out of nowhere to block Weasley," Lee exclaimed loudly above the excited screams and hollers of frustration from the crowd, "and it's a penalty to Gryffindor and quite right too, he made no attempt to get the Snitch, just flew straight into Weasley."

"Is he ok?" asked Angelina anxiously as Fred lent dangerously over the side of the barrier, so much so that George was holding onto the back of his jumper just in case.

"Yeah," replied Fred pushing himself back up, "he's on his broom again but it looked pretty nasty there for a moment."

"It's Franca to take the penalty," said Lee. There was a expectant hush from the Gryffindors while most of the Ravenclaw and Slytherin students were doing their best to put Miro off by whistling and jeering, "GOAL! And it's the Lions who draw first blood."

"Franca! Franca! Franca!" came the chorus from the Gryffindor students led by the ever-vocal twins. Miro waved a hand in acknowledgement before the Quaffle was put back into play and the game started again.

"A superb start by Gryffindor, there was no doubt Franca would put that away, as he is currently the leading scorer in this competition," Lee started up his commentating once again, "that's ten points to the Lions. As you know they need to win by at least one hundred and fifty points…ooo and that looked like it hurt."

The crowd groaned loudly in sympathy as Miro received a Bludger to the stomach. The play continued on around him as he wheezed erratically, doubled over on his broom trying to catch his breath.

"You OK?" called Charlie from above.

"I'm fine," winced Miro inhaling deeply, "don't worry about me. Just get the Snitch."

Charlie slowly circled around the stadium, his entire focus going on trying to locate the small flying ball. The noise of the crowd, the commentating, even the shouts from other team mates became distant distractions as he kept searching for the Snitch. Occasionally he would glance around for Hicks just in case his rival Seeker had located it before him, but from the look of it his search was as fruitless as Charlie's.

"Wonderful one handed save from Wood there," gasped Lee excitedly as the crowd cooed their approval. With Miro still trying to get his breath back properly the Ravenclaws went on an unmerciful barrage against the Gryffindor goal, luckily Wood managed to make a series of amazing saves to prevent them from scoring more than ten points.

Once Miro was back amongst the team it was Gryffindor's turn to go on the offensive. Their quick passing, fluid flying and deadly eye for goal meant that they soon opened up a gap in the score. This, coupled with the fact that Charlie was recognised as a much better Seeker than Hicks, had the crowd happily singing away the praises of their team.

"And that's another goal by Miro," shouted Lee above the chanting, "he really is on fire today. Gryffindor lead by seventy points to ten and unless Ravenclaw can come up with some kind of reply against this formidable side then I think it is safe to say we are looking at the new Quidditch Champions." This comment led to a few jeers and whistles from the Slytherin students who had become increasingly quieter since the start of the match.

A loud scream erupted in the stadium as Charlie suddenly broke into a dive; he'd spotted the Snitch, but so had Hicks. The two Seekers plummeted towards the ground shoulder to shoulder. Everyone stopped to watch them. It was as though time itself slowed down just to witness them.

They sped along the floor of the stadium, their feet barely skimming the grass, both Charlie and Hicks reached out their fingers to try and grasp the Snitch. Suddenly, just as he was about to grab the golden ball, Charlie looked up in time to see a Bludger heading straight towards the pair. Hicks too saw it and both of the Seekers tried to pull up and dodge, but unfortunately they ended up getting in each other's way.

Charlie lost control and the back of his broom clipped against the ground, kicking backup against him and sending him flying off the broom. Hicks had similar problems and ended up spiralling onto the floor and rolling some distance.

Charlie staggered to his feet and could feel something cold and metal in his hand. The crowd was cheering wildly. Smiling he opened his palm and looked down. He frowned; it was Hicks' Puddlemere United badge. He blinked uncertainly up at the stadium where some sections were leaping up and down excitedly.

Charlie slowly turned his head and looked across the pitch. Hicks was standing, grinning from ear to ear, with his arm raised high in the air. Grasped between his fingers was the Golden Snitch.


	29. A Midsummers Night Nightmare

The next couple of weeks were unbearable for anyone who wasn't in Slytherin. At every opportunity they reminded people that they were the Quidditch Champions. By the time the exams came around most people were grateful for the distraction. The First Year exams were not the most difficult of tests and the majority of the students managed to muddle through as best as they could. Even the twins felt they did surprisingly well, though the amount of studying they did was, needless to say, kept to a minimum

Each day they got up, the twins and Lee would take it in turns to cross off another day on their Chudley Cannon's calendar where a large red circle had been placed around the twenty-first. When the boys finally dragged a quill through the ring it was a momentous event for which they had woken up early.

"Well? Shouldn't it be doing something?" asked Lee as the three boys gathered around a table in the Common Room staring at the compass which had been placed in the centre.

"I dunno," shrugged Fred. He picked up the box and tried to pry it open, "no good. It won't budge."

"Maybe it's waiting for the right time," conceded George, "we'll just have to keep an eye on it and make sure we are ready for any changes."

The boys prepared a bag of supplies each, left them stowed away under their beds and tried to distract themselves throughout the day. This did not really work well since every half an hour or so, whoever had the compass on them at the time would suddenly think they heard it click and quickly wrench it out of their pocket, only to be disappointed.

"Sorry guys," apologised Lee after another false alarm.

"No problem," sighed George sinking back into a comfy armchair.

"Alright guys," said Charlie sitting down with the three boys.

"Alright," they replied in unison.

"Fred. George. Last week of the first year," Charlie said thoughtfully, "I guess you guys managed to make it without being expelled."

"Well there are a few more days to go," Lee reminded him.

"True," nodded Charlie, who then actually thought about this, "I'm thinking it might be a bit pointless asking you two to stay out of trouble at least until we are home."

"Ahh bless Charlie," grinned George leaning forward and giving his older brother a friendly punch on the arm, "you worried about us?"

"No, it's just I have a bet with Bill."

"What?" asked Fred incredulously, "you mean to say that Bill thought we'd get expelled in our first year?"

"Afraid so."

"That git," frowned Fred shaking his head, "at least you had some faith in us."

"Yeah," agreed Charlie, "I thought it would take you until at least your third year."

"I'm sorry," said George theatrically wriggling his little finger in his ear, "for a moment there it sounded like you thought we'd be getting expelled too."

"At least I thought you'd make it to the third year."

"Cheers," sneered George sarcastically, "honestly, our own brothers betting against us. "

"At least we can count of Percy for some support," snorted Fred as their other brother entered the Common Room.

"No you can't borrow any money," said Percy, quickly going on the defensive.

"We weren't talking about that," corrected Fred.

"Why? Do you have any spare money?" asked an inquisitive George.

"That's none of your business," scoured Percy, "so what were you talking about?"

"The bet with Bill over whether or not these two would get expelled," explained Charlie.

"Oh that thing…" said Percy his voice trailing off. There was something about the way he blushed slightly that seemed to alert George.

"You bet we'd get expelled too didn't you?" asked George giving his brother a pointed look.

"It was just a joke," flustered Percy.

"So what year did you think we'd go?" asked Fred, "don't worry, no matter what you say, it can't be worse then Bill's guess of our first year."

"Er…"

"Well?"

"Ahem, before the Sorting Hat Ceremony," replied Percy, at least having the decency to look a little bit ashamed.

The twins spent the next few hours fuming over what they considered a betrayal by their brothers while Lee tried, but completely failed, to keep himself from laughing whenever he thought about it. After a hearty meal they had soon settled down enough to take their minds off the bet and put them onto more realistic events.

"Guys check it out!" exclaimed Fred excitedly as he ran into the Common Room.

"Ok Fred," said George, not looking up from the game of Wizard's Chess he was playing with Lee, "considering you just left to go to the toilet, I don't care what it is, I'm not going to look."

"No you idiot. Look."

Fred slapped the open compass down onto the chessboard sending half the pieces toppling over, where they proceeded to shake their fists up at the boys. Fred grinned as he looked between George, Lee and the compass. They suddenly leapt into action.

"Fred, we'll grab the bags," said George as he pushed his chair back, stuffed a hand into his pocket and flung the Marauders Map at his brother, "you check the coast is clear."

Lee and George raced up the stairs and burst into their room, waking up the other two occupants. They hastily made their apologies before grabbing the three bags and rushing back out, almost knocking Charlie and Miro over on the way down.

"I wonder what they are up to," said Miro as they watched them as they sprinted past.

"Damn," replied Charlie shaking his head and looking down at his watch, which had just ticked past midnight, "Bill's still in with a chance of winning."

"Got them," said George as he and Lee dumped the bags onto the table.

"Nice one," grinned Fred taking his bag and swinging it over his shoulder. He held up the map and picked up the compass with his other hand, "this," he waved the compass, "is telling us to go down and out that way. And this," this time he waved the map, "is telling us the coast is clear. Here you take this."

"Brilliant. Ok, we'll head down until we are on the right level," George fixed the strap on his bag, before taking the compass off of his brother.

"Ok guys," said Lee slapping his friends on the shoulders "let's go get rich."

The boys stepped through the portrait and into the empty corridor. Fred showed the other two the map with showed the main part of the school to be deserted. Filch and Mrs Norris were quietly working away in their office, Snape, McGonagall and the other teachers were in their various rooms, and Peeves seemed to be content lurking in the dungeons.

"Plain sailing all the way," said Fred grinning. He tap the map with his wand and wiped it clean, "lead the way George."

Fred and Lee followed George through the various short cuts and hidden walkways that they had uncovered over the last year. Each time they went down a level George would check the compass and give the other two a quick shake of his head. It wasn't until they were on the ground floor that he looked up and grinned.

"Wicked, now where?"

"Out that way," pointed George.

They stepped out from behind a tapestry and into the Main Hall of the school. George confidently strode down towards a corridor while Fred followed him. Lee was slightly behind as his bag somehow managed to get snagged on the patterned cloth. He eventually untangled himself before stepping into the open.

"Jordan!" barked a voice causing the boys to jump, "what are you doing wandering the halls?"

From their position the twins could not see the source of the voice but it unmistakably belonged to Snape. Fred quickly turned the handle of the nearest door and dragged George inside, leaving it open a crack so they could still hear.

"Er…well you see Professor," stumbled Lee, trying to look as innocent as possible, which wasn't easy with Snape glaring at him, "I… was…running an errand for…"

"I don't want to hear your excuses," Snape snapped cutting him off, "unfortunately for you Peeves caused some damage in the dungeons. I was going to see Filch to get him to clear it up, but it looks like you just volunteered yourself."

"I didn't actually volunteer," mumbled Lee.

"Right, come with me to Filch's office, you're going to need a mop and bucket. You can lead the way, I'm sure you are familiar with the route," sneered Snape pushing Lee ahead of him.

Fred swore under his breath as he heard the footsteps getting fainter. He took out the map, activated it and watched as two tiny dots headed to Filch's office. Shaking his head he wiped it again and folded it back into his pocket. He looked over at his brother who had wandered to the far side of the room with the compass in hand.

"Stupid Snape. I guess that means it's just you and me on this one. Where to next?"

"I don't think this is leading us anywhere in the school. I think we are going into the Forest."

"Into the Forest? At night? Unsupervised?" clarified Fred before breaking into a grin, "wicked."

The twins stood at the edge of the Forbidden Forest looking up at the ominous trees. George held up the compass, which was pointing them directly into the dense foliage. With a shrug and a final look back **at** the school the boys crossed the threshold and continued through the foliage.

Once they had gone far enough inside the Forest the two boys illuminated their wands so that they didn't trip over as much. Although they could now see where they were going, the light didn't stop the eerie sounds and shadows that surrounded them. Every creak, twig snap, or leaf rustle had the twins pointing their wands in various directions, expecting some beast to jump out at them at any moment.

After about fifteen minutes of jumpingthe twins relaxed and began to pick up the pace as they headed further and further into the Forest. About half an hour passed before the thick trees dissipated somewhat and they entered a large clearing, which was covered in low short grass. The twins crossed through the open area. Once they had reached the dead centre of the clearing, George grabbed his brother's shoulder excitedly. The compass was spinning wildly around.

"I think we are here," whispered Fred, he looked around the area for any signs but the place was bare, "so now what?"

"Hang on. Look," said George as they both dumped their bags onto the ground.

One of the arrows stopped spinning and pointed directly down. George knelt down on the grass, lowering the compass while lighting the ground with his wand to see if he could spot anything. When the back of his hand was close enough to the floor that it brushed against the top of the grass the compass suddenly shook. It was such a jolt that George let go of it and it dropped to the floor. He went to pick it back up but it seemed to be stuck to the ground.

"Er… should it be doing that?" asked Fred as the compass slammed shut and begun slowly spinning on the ground.

"How should I know?" replied George as the box sped up.

The ground around the box started to rumble slightly. Fred and George gave each other a look of bewilderment and backed away just in case. The box continued to spin. Faster and faster. Suddenly, as though it just corkscrew itself into the ground the earth opened up and the compass disappeared down.

Fred and George approached the hole cautiously and peered inside. Rather then the large empty chasm they expected, they saw that the hole was in fact a stone spiral staircase leading down into the dark.

"Well it beats scrambling down a tunnel," admitted George.

"HA! I'VE GOT YOU THIS TIME!"

Fred and George spun around to see Filch emerging through the trees with a lantern held out in front of him, the light casting odd shadows onto his face, which was contorted into an insane malevolent grin. Bounding along next to him was his cat, which somehow managed to convey a look of smugness just through walking.

"I knew it, I just knew it!" exclaimed Filch as he reached the twins, "I knew you two couldn't resist sneaking out one last time. And after Professor Snape caught your friend I knew you two would be out as well, but you didn't reckon on Mrs Norris did you? As soon as your friend turned up I sent her out looking for you and she spotted you two going into the Forest."

"Look, Mr Filch," said George carefully trying to calm him down, "we are actually doing something really important here."

"Oh I'm sorry," replied Filch sarcastically, "I didn't mean to stop you during your criminal activities, why don't I just head back to the school and forget about the whole thing?"

"Really?" said Fred, "cos that would be great."

"No…not really," flustered Filch, "I was being sarcastic you idiot boy."

"Oh," replied Fred looking a bit deflated.

"Did you really think I was just going to let you go?"

"Well I was kinda hoping you would. What with it being the end of the year and all."

"Honestly, students," spat Filch, "they get dumber every year. Right you two, back to the castle."

"We can't," George stated firmly.

"Excuse me? What on earth makes you think that you have any say in the matter?"

"I know I don't have any say in the matter," replied George evenly, "but he might."

Filch turned around to look at what George was pointing at. A large creature was emerging from the forest. At first they thought it was a lion, but after the mane the body changed from that of a large cat to something more akin to a giant goat, as it completely moved into the opening the final surprise was a long swishing scaly tail. The bright orange eyes of the beast flashed in the moonlight and it stared at them. The only sound came from Mrs Norris, who hissed at the intruder.

"What is that?" whispered Fred trying not to breath too hard.

"It's a Chimaera," answered Filch holding his lantern in front of him as though it would ward the beast off.

"Are they friendly?"

As if in answer this the Chimaera let out a loud roar, revealing rows of sharp dangerous looking teeth. Before anyone could do anything the beast shot forward, racing straight towards the group. Too scared to move, everybody froze as the creature bore down on them. It leapt in the air its mouth wide open.

A ear-splitting screech echoed around the clearing, followed by a loud thump as the Chimaera landed heavily on the ground.

Fred opened an eye and lowered his hands from shielding his face, "ok what happened? Why aren't we dead?"

"I'll tell you why," grinned George standing back up, "it's John to the rescue."

Standing between the Chimaera and the group was the large female bugbear that the twins had helped earlier in the year. The two beasts slowly began to circle each other, baring their teeth and claws at each other. The twins and Filch dared not move from their position. While the bugbear saved them from the other beast none of them were sure if it was doing it to protect them or because it wanted to eat them itself.

"We should try and get somewhere safe," whispered Filch as the two creatures squared up.

"Good idea," replied George from the corner of his mouth.

"I was talking to Mrs Norris."

"It's so reassuring that you have our best interests at heart," said Fred sarcastically, "I know where will be safe, down the stairs."

"Oh no," Filch shook his head sending his long greasy hair flicking back and forth, "you were planning on going down there, and I'm not going to let you get away with one of your schemes."

"Fair enough," replied Fred raising his hands in defeat, "any better ideas?"

Before Filch could answer the Chimaera gave out a loud roar and dived at the bugbear jaws snapping. This seemed to make up Mrs Norris's mind as she shot straight down the stairs and into the dark. Filch immediately followed his cat down, leaving George and Fred outside with the two creatures.

"Shouldn't we help John?" asked George looking concerned.

"She seems to be doing ok for herself," Fred nodded towards the edge of the clearing, where a second much larger bugbear was approaching, "besides here comes Steve to help."

Leaving the fighting beasts behind, the twins steadily made their way down the stairs. At the bottom they found a small room with a large archway at the back leading into a dark corridor, they also found a very annoyed looking Filch with his cat slinking around his legs.

"I suppose you two are happy?" he snapped, "it looks like we are stuck down here until those things leave. You two will be expelled for sure this time."

"That's it Filch," smiled George giving the caretaker a thumbs up, "always look on the bright side."

"So…er… seeing as we are going to be down here a while," said Fred not trying to sound too eager, "we might as well have a quick look around."

"Oh no you don't," said Filch, quickly striding across to block the archway, "you two aren't going anywhere."

"But…"

"No buts, there is no way I'm going to let you wander out of this room."

"How about if there was something in it for you?" asked George raising his eyebrows.

"Like what?" snorted Filch, "even if you could bribe me, you wouldn't have anything I want."

"Really? How about a life without students?"

Filch paused open mouthed while he thought about it, "go on."

"How about if we made you so rich you could give up work completely?" asked George.

"What are you doing?" interrupted Fred whispering harshly.

"Look, he's not going to let us go unless there is something in it for him," explained George quickly.

"So you want to share the treasure with Filch?"

"It'll be better to share it with him and at least get some of the treasure now. We don't know if this thing will open up again."

"Fine, fair point," conceded Fred, "but still, working with Filch? It seems so unnatural."

"What was that about treasure?" asked Filch, his eyes flicking quickly between the twins.

"That's the reason we are out here tonight," explained George, "this place has a load of treasure in it and it is going to make us rich."

"Pff," exhaled Filch derisively, "who would have buried treasure in the Forest?"

"Fenter Prevend," replied Fred evenly.

"Ha. That's just a legend."

"Well how do you explain the hidden stairs in the middle of the Forest?" said George waving his arm around the room, "look, if we are right and this is where Prevend hid the treasure, then we'll all be rich. If we are wrong then you'll probably get us expelled, either way you'll win."

"Hmmm," Filch went silent as he thought about the proposal, "fine, we'll have a quick look for it, and if we find anything we'll split it evenly."

"Fine, a quarter of the treasure each for us, you and Lee."

"What about Mrs Norris?"

"What about her?" asked George frowning.

"Well she is here, shouldn't she get a share?"

"She's a cat," said Fred, as though he was confirming this information with Filch.

"So? Does that mean she shouldn't get any of the treasure?"

"Yes, it does."

"Well without me, you two aren't going anywhere," said Filch folding his arms, "and I'm not moving from this room until you agree to split the treasure with Mrs Norris."

"Ok how about this?" George tried to compromise, "if and I mean if, Mrs Norris somehow helps us get to the treasure, we'll split it five ways. If she does nothing to help then we get a quarter each."

"What are you doing?" asked Fred.

"It's a cat," whispered George, "what can it do?

"Deal," said Filch giving his pet a loving scratch behind the ears.

"Right, lets get going," ordered Fred nodding at his brother, "before you give all of the treasure away."

"Hey a quarter of a room full of treasure is still a lot," explained George.

"One fifth," corrected Filch.

"The cat hasn't done anything useful yet, so it is still a quarter each."

The twins went to lead the way through the archway with their wands held aloft. As soon as they stood underneath the stone curve the light from their wands was extinguished. Across the camber of the arch appeared writing; glowing as if it was written in fire - _Magus vester vos non adiuvat ultra is fornicis_

"Well well well," murmured Filch sounding smug, "your magic won't help you beyond this arch."

"Why? What does it say?" quizzed George causing Filch to sigh.

"It says, 'your magic won't help you beyond this arch'," explained Filch pointing up at sentence as he translated it, "idiot."


	30. No Place Like Home

"You know," said Fred thoughtfully as they walked down the thin dark corridor, the only light emanating from Filch's lamp, "I've pictured this moment ever since we first read about Prevend and you know at no point did we have Filch tagging along with us."

"I'm sorry," apologised George, "there wasn't anything else I could do."

"You could have made something up," replied a frustrated Fred, "you could have said that there was another way out."

"But he would have still come with us."

"Yeah but we could have ditched him before we got to the treasure."

"That's not actually a bad idea," admitted George, "do you think it is too late to change our story?"

"Ere you two," Filch's gruff voice echoed back down the hall, "this doesn't look much like treasure to me."

The twins hurried down the last few paces and caught up with the caretaker, the passageway opened up into a large room. There were two platforms, one, which the twins and Filch were standing on, and the other on the far side of the room. In the middle was a section of stone that seemed to be suspended in midair over a very dark looking abyss, there was a old wooden walkway from each of the platforms leading to the middle.

"We just need to cross it," explained Fred, a bit disappointed seeing as he was expecting a room full of treasure.

"Yeah but what is the catch?" asked George looking cautiously down.

"What do you mean?"

"Well Prevend does like his traps doesn't he?"

"True," admitted Fred, "I bet you can only get one person on those walkways at a time. They look a bit worn."

"That's all we need; a drop into a bottomless pit," said George.

"It's not a bottomless pit," corrected Fred examining the walkway, "there is no such thing."

"Yes there is. I've seen one."

"Where?"

"Uncle Enoch has one in his back garden."

"You are aware that is just a well?"

"Just a well what?"

"What?"

Filch was staring opened mouthed back and forth between the two twins, "how on earth have you two managed to be the bane of my life this year. You're both gibbering idiots."

"Look I'll prove that this isn't bottomless," said Fred grabbing a large stone that had crumbled off the wall. He held it over the side and dropped it into the darkness. "Just listen."

The twins and Filch waited to hear the stone crash off the bottom, while Mrs Norris just spent time sniffing around the area. They waited. And waited.

"There did you hear that?" asked Fred triumphantly.

"Yeah," admitted George pointing to his brother's feet, "it was you kicking a stone against the wall."

"Look it doesn't matter if the pit is bottomless or not," snapped Filch before the twins started arguing, "either way we don't want to fall in."

"True," nodded Fred, "ok I guess we should test out the walkway. Who's the lightest?"

Fred looked at George, they both then stared at Filch and then finally looked down at Mr Norris.

"Oh no," said Filch quickly, scooping his cat up into his arms, "you aren't testing that out on my pet."

"So much for being a team," frowned George, "fine I'll go across."

George held tightly onto the ropes of the walkway, while Fred and Filch watched apprehensively. He gave them a quick look before taking a deep breath and stepping out onto the first plank of wood. The walkway creaked uncertainly after years of being dormant but didn't snap under George's weight.

He slowly and steadily made his way across the bridge, carefully trending on the wooden boards, and soon reached the other side. He stepped off the walkway and… into the Burrow.

"What the…?" mumbled a very surprised and confused George. He looked back towards where the walkway should have been but all he could see was the doorway out to the garden. He snapped his head back around and looked at the kitchen; it was identical to his home in every way possible.

"How did I get here?" frowned George, something was puzzling him, he knew he had been doing something moments before he arrived in his home but he couldn't quite remember what it was.

"Hello dear," greeted Mrs Weasley coming down the stairs, "oh you finished picking the apples, perfect just drop them onto the table."

George looked down to realise that his was carrying an armful of bright red juicy looking apples. All fuzzy thoughts of chambers, hidden stairs and treasure were steadily pushed from his mind. George knew that he was at home and had just finished picking fruit for his mother.

"Hi George," said a small red haired boy covered in dirt passing through the room and heading outside.

"Alright Ron," replied George putting the apples down on the kitchen table, "anything else I can do mum?"

"Who's Ron?" asked Filch.

"He's my little brother," explained Fred, worried at how his twin was acting, "hey George are you ok?"

He brother didn't answer him; instead George was standing in the middle of the stone plateau talking to some unseen person about chores.

"It sounds like he is talking to my mum," frowned Fred, he called out to his brother again, "George, hey George, what's going on?"

"Can you hear that?" George asked Mrs Weasley, "it sounds like Fred."

"Oh yes," replied Mrs Weasley, waving a hand in the direction of the stairs, "he finished his chores a while back, he said he was working on something in his room that he had to show you."

"Really?" asked George looking towards the stairs, "like what?"

"He said it was a surprise," Mrs Weasley smiled kindly at her son, "oh go on then, you go see what he wants and you can do your chores later."

"Thanks mum," grinned George and headed towards the stairs.

"Where's he going," Fred wondered aloud. Suddenly he swore under his breath and raced down the walkway, "he'll fall off the edge!"

"STOP!" ordered Fred bursting through the door into the kitchen, startling both George and Mrs Weasley.

"Honestly Fred," Mrs Weasley gasped fanning her face with her hand, "you gave me a fright, what are you shouting for?"

"I'm shouting because… because…" Fred faltered, what was clear in his mind a moment ago had faded quickly, "I…I can't remember."

"You kids today," said Mrs Weasley shaking her head and putting the apples from the table into a basket, "can't concentrate on more then one thing at a time."

"Yes mum," replied George rolling his eyes behind his mothers back as he stepped back into the kitchen, "so what was this surprise you were working on?"

"I'm not sure," admitted Fred giving his head a slight shake. There was something prodding his memory but he just couldn't remember what was so vital.

"You ok?" asked George, "you look a little weird."

"Cheers," Fred said sarcastically, "no, there is something I need to remember, something important."

"Was it to do with the thing you were working on upstairs?" George reminded him, pointing a thumb back towards the stairs.

"I think so," frowned Fred, "I can't put my finger on it."

"Well I always find the best way to recall things is if I retrace my steps," advised Mrs Weasley as she began to peel potatoes using her wand to curse them off, "head back upstairs and see if that jogs your memory."

"Good idea mum," admitted Fred moving towards the stairs with his brother.

"NO! YOU IDIOTS!" Filch skidded into the kitchen, nearly slamming into the table, "stay right there."

"Oh no Mr Filch," sighed Mrs Weasley putting down her wand, and turning to the twins, "what have you two been up to this time?"

"What?" frowned Filch as all memories of the bottomless pit were washed over in his mind.

"I so sorry Mr Filch," apologised Mrs Weasley, "I'm sure when you moved into the area I'm sure you were just looking for a quite place to retired too."

"Well that is true," replied Filch slowly.

"Honestly, you two," scolded Mrs Weasley, "can't you leave this man in peace for more then two minutes? I'm so sorry Mr Filch. Here come into the living room and I'll make you a nice cup of tea."

"Oh that's very kind," said Filch uncertainly, as Mrs Weasley led him through the kitchen.

A sharp shooting pain suddenly jolted through his leg, Filch looked down a lifted up one of his trouser legs, four thin scratches had appeared just above his ankle, one of them was bleeding slightly.

"Are you ok Mr Filch?" asked Mrs Weasley. Her voice seemed to be coming from a long way off, as though she was in another room entirely.

Filch looked back down at his leg. Next to his foot there seemed to be a shadowy blob, he lent down to get a closer look and he realised that the blob was cat shaped and was more see-through then shadowy.

"Mrs Norris?" he asked carefully as the cat gradually appeared to become more solid. He looked around the Burrow once more, everything else had begun to have a transparent look to it, everything except the twins who were staring at him bemused.

He could see Mrs Weasley, the kitchen, the garden outside, in fact he could see the whole Burrow, but behind them, almost through them he could see the dark outline of the abyss at the sides of the room. Shaking his head it was almost as if the last block fell into place and the cosy image of the Weasleys' home disappeared from his mind. He stood back up, strode purposefully over to the twins and frogmarched them to the other walkway.

"Get off," ordered Fred as he was pushed onto the walkway, "mum, tell him…mum?"

"What on earth?" said George as he too crossed over onto wooden bridge and his memory returned.

"That was weird," said Fred with possibly the greatest understatement of the year, "I could have sworn we were at home, it even smelt the same."

"Well when you have lived as long as I have," said Filch looking smug, "you learn that not everything is how it seems."

"Hang on," Fred said reaching the end of the walkway and stepping down onto solid ground again, "you didn't do anything, it was your cat that scratched you."

"Yeah, well I taught her everything she knows," snapped Filch defensively. He suddenly broke into a sneer, "of course you know what this means?"

"What?" said George folding his arms.

"Mrs Norris just proved herself useful, which means we split the treasure five ways now."

"Damn, stupid cat," mumbled George as Filch led the way down the next passageway.

"There is something worse then that," said Fred.

"What could be worse?"

"Filch just saved our lives."

"Technically it was Mrs Norris that saved our lives."

"And that is better because?"

The twins sulked their way down the corridor and into a large antechamber; the entire room was empty with the exception of one occupant.

"What happened to him?" asked Filch looking down at the skeleton.

"What ever it was that did this to him, it looks like it is long gone," replied George looking around at the sparse room.

"Come on, the treasure must be through there," Fred pointed at the large ornate doors at the far end of the room.

The twins and Filch climbed up a few steps and Fred tried to turn the handle. There was a faint click as he did it but otherwise the door refused to budge.

"Great, now what?" complained George, "it's not as if we can unlock it with our wands."

"There has to be a key somewhere," deduced Fred.

"I think I found the key," replied Filch looking back down the steps. Mrs Norris hissed loudly. The skeleton was no long crumpled in the corner of the room, it was now standing upright and hung around it's neck was a large iron key.

"Should we ask nicely for it?" said George cautiously looking at the skeleton, which hadn't moved since standing up.

"It doesn't seem to be doing anything," admitted Fred. He slowly approached the skeleton, ever ready to leap back if he needed to.

Although the thing had no eyes, Fred could almost feel it watching him as he got closer. He held his breath as he reached out and took hold of the chain around the skeleton's neck. He lifted the weighty metal over the skull and pulled the chain and key away. Fred let out a sigh of relief.

"FRED!" George cried out as the skeleton suddenly came to life and slashed at Fred with his bony hand. Luckily Fred managed to dive back in time and only received a scratch across one of his cheeks. He fell backwards and the key slid across the floor.

George leapt down the steps and went to grab the key. Fred scrambled out of the way of the skeleton as it moved towards his brother.

"Here catch," shouted George throwing the key to his brother. The skeleton stopped mid walk and turned towards the other twin who had stretched out and arm to catch it.

"Damn," Fred swore as the skeleton closed the gap quicker then he expected. He only had time to quickly throw it in George's direction, but the key fell short of its target and clanged down heavily on the stone floor.

George managed to get to the key before the skeleton and flicked it aside, unfortunately he didn't have time to get out of the way as the skeleton swung an arm at him. George was lifted off the ground and landed forcefully against the wall before sinking down onto the floor.

Filch looked down at the key, which had come to a stop in front of his feet. He looked up at the skeleton heading towards him and then at Fred who was trying to get his breath back. His mind panicked as he tried to think about what he should be doing, and he froze.

The skeleton bored down on him as he got closer and closer. Suddenly the creature threw its arms up to its face as Mrs Norris leapt at it, hissing, scratching and biting as she became a whirlwind of fur and claws. The skeleton stumbled back in the face of this fresh attack before it managed to grab hold of the animal and cast it aside. The cat hit the wall with a sickening thud and fell limp against the floor.

"My cat," Filch whimpered looking at the prone body of his pet, "my cat…" Filch looked back at the skeleton, which had once again started to advance towards them. His eyes narrowed.

"That's my bloody cat!" Filch roared grabbing up the chain and key and leaping down the stairs.

The skeleton raised its arm to slash at Filch as he approached but before it could bring it's hands down it was struck across the face by the heavy metal key which Filch had swung at it with all his might.

"Don't…you…ever…touch…my…cat…again," screamed Filch, striking the skeleton each time he said a word.

"Er… Filch?" said Fred as he helped his brother up.

"That…is…my…cat!"

"Filch?" Fred called a little louder.

"No…one…hurts…Mrs…Norris!"

"Hey Filch!" shouted Fred finally getting the caretaker's attention.

"What?" snarled Filch turning around. He was still breathing hard with sweat pouring down his face.

"I think Mrs Norris is ok?" advised Fred pointing at the cat that was groggily getting to its feet, "I think she was just stunned a bit."

"She's ok?" Filch's face softened looking across to his pet and broke into a smile before rushing over to check on his pet.

"You alright George?" Fred asked his brother who had a look of shock on his face.

"Well let's see," frowned George as he looked down at the skeleton which now had most of it's bones crushed by the blows from Filch, "I have just witnessed an old man, beat a skeleton back to death, with a key, because it hurt a cat which is only known by its surname. No Fred, I don't think I'm going to be alright for a long time."

"I know what you mean," Fred looked from Filch, who was busy hugging Mrs Norris, to the dusty remains of the skeletons, "remind me never to hurt Mrs Norris."


	31. Keep Your Friends Close

Leaving the dusty remains of the crushed skeleton behind, Filch twisted the large iron key in the lock and pushed the door open. He picked his lamp up againand shone the light into the darkness beyond.

Fred slipped under the lamp and moved into the new room; large dark shadows loomed throughout the area as Filch's hand swung the lantern uncertainly. There was a strange pungent smell in the room which immediately invaded the senses, and seemed to be emanating from a very narrow stream of liquid that appeared to run down the centre of the room and off into the darkness.

"'Ere," mumbled Filch. The twins watched him as he put the lantern down and fished a thin piece of wood from his pocket. He swung the small door on the side of the lamp open and held the wood in the flame until it caught light. Carefully removing the, now lit, strip of wood, Filch shielded it as he touched the end into the stream of liquid on the floor.

The stream immediately became alight with a small flame, which streaked along the groove in the floor. The twins and Filch watched as the fire sped away from them. It reached the centre of the room where the stream suddenly broke off into several different directions. The individual lines sped over the ground and then up the walls where they ignited a series of torches, which illuminated the whole room. If the twins had ever seen one of those world record domino attempts then they would have be able to compare what they were seeing with it, unfortunately since that wasn't the case the best Fred could come up with was, "bloody hell."

At the far end of the room past the thin lines of burning oil were some steps up to an alcove. Within the circle of the alcove stood a large stone plinth.

"That's got to be it," said George excitedly stepping forward.

"Hang on," Fred grabbed his collar and pulled him back before his brother stepped down onto the criss-crossed paving on the floor.

"What was that for?" complained George rubbing his neck.

"Have you not learnt anything?" asked Fred causing Filch to give out a humourless snort.

"What?" frowned George ignoring Filch.

"Er… Prevend loves his booby traps," Fred waved a hand across the floor, "there is no way it'd be a case of just walking over. That's too easy. No, there has to be something wrong here. What are you grinning at?"

"You said booby."

"Look at the paving slabs," observed Filch, ignoring the giggling Weasley twin. He leant down and ran a hand over one of the stones, "see, in the corner…"

"I see it," admitted Fred. In the very bottom of one of the slab were etched two letters; F and P, "so what do you reckon? Only tread on the stones with the letters on them."

"But what if it means the opposite," said Filch quickly, "what if it means don't step on the ones with the letters?"

"Well what would be the point of that?" frowned George, "surely it would be easier to mark the ones we could stand on rather then the ones we can't."

"Maybe that's what you are suppose to think," snapped Filch.

"Ok, how about you lead the way then?" said Fred pointing across the floor.

"No no, you two lead the way," Filch said quickly.

"So if there are no further interruptions," George looked raised his eyebrows at Filch, "fair enough."

George tentatively trod onto the first slap, ready to pull his foot back at the first sign of any trouble. Looking back at his brother, he shrugged and put his full weight onto his front foot. He remained balanced on one foot, his other foot raised behind him uncertainly.

"Er…George."

"Yes Fred."

"Any time today would be good."

George gave his twin a look of annoyance before looking down onto the slabs in front of him, he spotted another one with the letters hidden away in the corner and moved his spare foot down onto it. After the third slab Fred began to follow his brother in the same way, with Filch bringing up the rear whilst holding Mrs Norris. The ungainly trio waddled their way cautiously over the ground, moving slowly as George picked out the trail marked with the letters, carefully stepping over the thin lines of burning liquid which were almost extinguished.

"Piece of cake," said George finally stepping off of the paved slabs.

"Yeah, I know. Cheers," Fred thanked his brother as he took his outstretched hand to steady him.

"This better be worth it," grumbled Filch as he made the last few steps.

"Careful Filch," warned George as Filch stumbled slightly over his own feet, "I said careful. Watch it!"

The caretaker lurched to one side as he trod on one of his untied shoelaces. With Mrs Norris in one hand and the lamp in the other, he couldn't use his arms to steady his balance and he wobbled uncertainly before dropping to the floor and landing down on one of the unmarked slabs.

The twins looked around the room apprehensively as Mrs Norris shot out of Filch's hand and huddled protectively in the corner of the room by the edge of the stairs. The caretaker held his breath as he lay on the floor. The three of them waited expectantly in the silence.

"Er…so I guess nothing is going to happen," admitted George after about twenty seconds.

"Wait," whispered Fred, waving his hand at his brother.

"Now what?" asked George after another twenty seconds.

"Idiots," snapped Filch, pushing himself back onto his feet, "those markings meant nothing. We could just walk where we liked, we didn't need to do any of that creeping nonsense."

"Better to be safe then sorry," scolded Fred, before whispering to his brother, "although in the case of Filch I wouldn't care either way."

"I heard that," snapped Filch as he went to check on Mrs Norris.

"So what do you think?" asked Fred looking up at the box on the plinth, and then warily down at the steps.

"Well we can't levitate it off and we don't have anything that we could use to pull it off."

"We could throw something at it," whispered George nodding at Mrs Norris, who was being held protectively by the caretaker.

"Why don't we just go and get it?" asked Filch who hadn't heard George's comment.

"Because it's probably booby trapped," said Fred, as his brother tried to stifle a grin.

"Oh for God sake," said Filch, "it's just a word. How do you know its booby trapped?"

"Well, we have dealt with Prevend before," explained Fred, "and one thing we have learned is that he loves his booby traps."

"Is he always like this?" Filch asked nodding a head at George who had gone bright red as he tried to stop his giggling.

"Nope," sighed Fred looking at his brother, "this is him on a good day."

"Anyway, you thought that the floor was…," Filch glanced across at George who was looking back expectantly with a slight smirk on his face, "trapped."

"Oh yeah," said George looking a little disappointed, "well maybe Prevend expected the other two rooms to spot people so he didn't bother with this room."

"True," admitted Fred staring up at box, "shame we didn't bring our bags, we'd have probably had something in there that we could use."

"I doubt it."

"Why?"

"I only filled mine with cakes," replied George sheepishly.

"Cakes?" Fred asked frowning at his brother, "what good would cakes have been?"

"I get peckish," admitted George, "why? What did you pack?"

"Scones mainly."

"So if we hadn't left our bags out in the middle of the forest," George clarified, "the only things we would have been armed with would be two bags of cakes?"

"No," said Fred shaking his head, "scones aren't cakes."

"As riveting a conversation as this is," interrupted Filch, "shouldn't we be getting on with this. I don't particularly enjoy spending my time in the company of students."

"Fine," George took a deep breath and dramatically placed a foot on the first step. After a few moments he exhaled loudly, "well it seems ok."

The twins and Filch climbed up the stairs. All three of them looked down at the large wooden box. There were no marking on the surface of it, with the exception of two familiar letters hidden away in the corner of it, and there was a large clasp on one of the sides. The twins grinned at each other, gave a loud whoop and high fived each other while Filch cooed softly to his pet, pointing out the letters to Mrs Norris.

"So," said Filch expectantly, "open it."

"Er…" mumbled George after a few moments fiddling with the clasp, "it's locked. And our wands don't work down here."

"Damn," swore Fred, "ok, so we'll take it with us and open it back in the school."

"Great," grumbled Filch walking down the steps, "so instead of treasure, we have to lug this thing back with us."

"I don't see you doing any lugging," complained George grasping one end of the box and heaving it up.

"I've a bad back," said Filch, putting on a fake limp for good measure.

"Good God, and I thought we told bad lies," replied Fred shaking his head, lifting up the other side of the box.

George gave his brother a grin as they stepped around the plinth and began to make their way down the stairs carrying their prize. As Fred trod down onto the second level, the step beneath him dropped down a bit, causing him to stumble. The sudden jerk made George loose his already unsteady grip and he let go of his end. The box fell down onto the steps, rolled down onto the ground and landed heavily on Filch's foot.

"Ow you idiots," complained Filch jumping up and down on his foot, still holding Mrs Norris with one hand.

"What did you do that for?" asked George.

"Sorry it's just this step sunk down into the floor," Fred pointed down to the ground and lifted his foot off of the offending stair.

"No wait!" said George quickly but it was too late, the sunken step slowly raised back up and clicked back into place.

The twins looked around expectantly while Filch continued to complain about his foot. Suddenly the rocketing out of the bottom steps a series of long wooden spikes shot up into the air and pieced the ceiling. Mrs Norris gave out a loud yelp as Filch jumped back quickly and landed on his backside. George looked across at the line of spikes. The twins were trapped.

"Oh come on!" Fred shouted at no one in particular, "we'd already got the treasure, you can't set a trap on the way out, that's just unfair."

"Great, now what?" asked George examining the wooden poles.

"Nothing," spat Fred angrily kicking the wood for good measure, "we don't have anyway to break through these things."

"Ok Filch," said George looking at the caretaker who had finally got back to his feet and was dusting off of his trousers, "you're going to have to get some tools and come back and let us out."

"Ok," replied Filch looking from the thick wooden spikes down to the treasure box, "but it's going to cost you."

"What?" frowned Fred.

"I said it is going to cost you," repeated Filch smiling evilly.

"How much?" asked George through gritted teeth.

"You and your friend'sshare of this," Filch kicked the box with his foot.

"Hang on," said George pointing a finger at Filch, "we agreed to split that equally. Even with your stupid cat."

"Yes, but when we decided that," replied Filch waving a hand at the twins, "I still needed you two to get me to the treasure. Now I don't need you at all, if I wanted to I could just leave you to rot here. But I've always been generous, which is why I'm offering to help you."

"So you planned to double cross us this whole time?" shouted George.

"Careful," Filch held up a finger warningly, "I still haven't said I'd help you."

"What do you think?" whispered Fred to his brother.

"We don't have much choice do we?" conceded George angrily.

"Fine Filch," sighed Fred, "get us out of here and you can have the treasure."

"No problem," grinned Filch, "it'll probably take about an hour for them to get there."

"Them?" asked George cautiously.

"The teachers of course," explained Filch, "I think it would be better if they came to help, they'd be better at it."

"But if they come here, we'll probably get expelled," said Fred evenly.

"Really?" said Filch raising his eyebrows, "you know, I hadn't thought of that?"

"Git," seethed George.

"Well," Filch reached down and heaved the treasure box off of the ground and propped it onto his shoulder, "be seeing you two later."

"I see your back is alright now," observed Fred.

"For some reason," smirked Filch, "I suddenly feel fit as a fiddle."

The caretaker picked up his lamp with his free hand and started whistling happily to himself, as he sauntered out of the room with Mrs Norris in tow. The twins watched as he disappeared through the door on the fair end of the room.

"Just perfect," sighed Fred resting his head on one of the bars.

"Don't worry I have a plan," said George looking thoughtful.

"And what exactly is it?"

"Simple, we break out of here, get back to the school before Filch can send the teachers out, and steal the box back."

"A brilliant plan," admitted Fred, before tapping one of the bars with his finger, "except how do we get passed these?"

"Easy," smiled George, "we just need to use our heads… well our shoulders at least."

Fred had about enough time to move out of the way before George had taken a running leap at the bars.

"Any other ideas?" asked Fred looking down at his brother who was now rubbing his arm.

"I think I loosened it," winced George pushing the bar with his hand.

"Great. Do it another hundred times and I think we'll be done."

"We'll how else are we going to get pastthese?" asked George, "we can't go through them."

"No," said Fred walking over to the side of the room, "but I think we can go around them."

"That opening is too small," George said joining his brother while still trying to rub his arm better.

"At the moment it is, but look at this," Fred scrapped his fingers along the muddy wall. Some of it broke away into his hand, "we just need to dig enough out so we can squeeze passed."

"Do you think we'll have time?" asked George.

"Well, we either try and burrow our way out or we just sit here waiting for Filch to bring the teachers."

"Let's dig fast then," said George pushing his fingers into the hard dirt and scraping some away.

The boys dug as quickly as they could, grating the dirt away in small chunks as they feverously brought their fingers across the face of the wall. Despite the speed at which they burrowed the going was very slow and painful on their bodies.

"I think we could fit through that," said George, trying to blow cold air onto his fingers. They had started to bleed from all the work.

"Yeah, should be enough," admitted Fred with equally bloody hands.

George lent his hand through the gap between the bar and the wall and pushed his head through as well. His shoulders squeezed hard against the wall. He took in a deep breath of air and then exhaled quickly as Fred helped try and push him through. At one point it looked like he'd be stuck halfway but after some frantic struggling he finally flopped done onto the ground on the other side.

"Ok," George pushed himself up from the ground and steadied himself against the wall, "give me you hand and I'll pull you through."

Fred went through the same process as his brother. Except this time George was pulling at his hands, as he tried to squeeze through the gap.

"Careful," complained Fred, trying to push his legs against the wall to give him some extra leverage, "you'll have my arm off."

"I managed to fit through ok," replied George through gritted teeth as he gave another heave, "you should lay off the cakes a bit more."

With one final effort Fred slipped through the gap and landed on his brother.

"Seriously," wheezed George from underneath, "cut back on the cakes."

"Shut up," ordered Fred pushing his brother off of him and standing up, "come on we've got to get out of here." He helped his brother up and they moved towards the exit.

"Uh oh," said Fred stopping himself in his tracks.

"What?"

Fred looked down at the ground. He foot was on one of the paved slabs, and it was sunken into the ground.

"You're kidding," sigh George looking down, "but Filch managed to cross it ok."

"I guess he managed to miss any of the problem slabs."

"Great, a lucky Filch. I can't think of anything worse."

"I dunno how about…."

"You know I don't think this is the best time," George cut across his brother.

"Fair enough. Ok, I'm going to take my foot off," warned Fred, "keep you eyes peeled."

Fred slowly lifted his leg and the paving slab slotted back into position. The brothers looked around cautiously. There was a sudden rumble from just above the plinth. The room shook slightly, and some dirt and dust fell off of the ceiling. Then as soon as it started the shaking stopped.

"Don't know what we were worried about," said George letting out a breath of relief.

"Yeah I know…"

Suddenly the roof of the room above the plinth collapsed down onto it. The twins looked up as more and more of the ceiling began to fall in.

"Run!" shouted Fred turning around and following his own advice.

The brothers raced across the paving slabs as the room collapsed around them. They shot through the doorway and leapt down the steps passed the remains of the destroyed skeleton. They ran as hard as they could onto the next room.

"What about the illusions?" shouted George from behind, "we don't have Mrs Norris to help us."

"It's a straight line between the walkways," replied Fred from ahead, "just shut your eyes."

"Great plan," said George sarcastically

"Really? Cos I thought it sounded kind of stupid."

Fred raced across the wooden walkway and quickly shut his eyes as he stepped off of it. Although he had his eyes shut, he could suddenly feel the room light up as though he were inside a brightly light room, the smell of freshly baked bread invaded his nose . As quickly as it appeared those feelings dissipated as he felt the wooden planks under his feet again. He opened his eyes once again, just in time to stop himself from barging into the wall. Unfortunately George wasn't as lucky.

"Ouch George," complained Fred as he was bundled into the wall.

"Sorry Fred."

"You can worry about that later," said Fred as his twin helped him up, "we have other problems."

They looked back at the previous room; the ceiling had already caved in. The wooden planks on the walkway began to shake as parts of the roof started to drop down. The twins sprinted out of the room with the dirt and dust swiftly following behind them.

Fred led the way into the room with the spiral stairs, and raced up them as quickly as he could. The final part of the catacomb buckled and the twins erupted from the hole in a barrage of dirt and dust.

Fred cracked his head on the ground while George landed heavily on the ground next to his brother and remained prone.

Fred's vision blurred slightly, blood oozed down a cut on the side of his head as he began feeling woozy. He glanced across to his brother. A shadow in the moonlight fell across him. He looked up to see a shape looming over him just as unconsciousness took over his body.


	32. Just Desserts

"Ugh," groaned Fred, his eyes flickering open uncertainly. As his swimming vision finally settled down he realised that he was not lying in the middle of the Forbidden Forest looking up at the night sky. He was instead, lying down in a rather comfy bed looking up at some old wooden beams that were doing a very good job of holding the roof up.

He slowly moved his head to one side and saw a line of other beds next to him. His gaze fell on the cabinet beside the bed. Itcontained a number of brightly coloured cards. He reached a hand out and picked up the closest one to him. There was a picture of a cartoon boy with his head wrapped in a large bandage. The picture moved and gave Fred a reassuring smile.

"Ahh I see you are finally up."

Fred looked up to see the kind face of Professor Dumbledore looking down at him.

"I must admit when I found you," the headmaster carried on casually as he sat down in one of the seats next to the bed, "you and your brother didn't seem in the best of ways."

"When you…" Fred replied slowly as his brain tried to get up to speed on the situation, "that shadow I saw in the woods, that was you?"

"Yes Mr Weasley, it certainly was," Dumbledore looked over his glasses at Fred.

"But how did you know we were there?" Fred's brain gave his memory a bit of a kick, "of course… Filch."

"Mr Filch," Dumbledore corrected, picking up one of the 'Get Well' cards and reading it.

"So what did he tell you?" asked Fred trying to sound casual.

"Well at the time he just said that there were a couple of students out in the Forest," the card gave off a little scrapping sound as Dumbledore placed it back among its peers, "but after finding the two of you I thought that I needed a much more detailed discussion with our dear caretaker."

"Ahh," nodded Fred, wincing slightly at the pain in his neck, "so he told you…"

"Pretty much everything," Dumbledore finished with a slight grin.

"Right," said Fred slowly as he tried to quickly come up with an excuse, "you see, what happened…"

"Mr Filch told me how you and your brother went out with him into the Forest while you were serving your detention," the headmaster cut across Fred as though he hadn't heard him.

"We did? Oh I mean yes that's right we did."

"He said that you two somehow had become lost and that he had tried to find you again but wasn't successful."

"Oh well, you know what Mr Filch is like," agreed Fred enthusiastically, "always looking out for us students."

"Yes I suppose he is," nodded Dumbledore looking out of the window thoughtfully, "of course he did manage to find something else while he was searching for you."

"Yeah I know," replied Fred glumly before he could stop himself, "er… I mean did he?"

"You would be amazed," said Dumbledore leaning forward in his chair, "it seems that he found the hidden treasure of Fenter Prevend, all by himself."

"Really?" asked Fred hollowly, sinking back into his pillows.

"A very impressive find," admitted the headmaster, "he was so excited about the whole thing, he even managed to get himself in The Daily Prophet."

"Lucky him," mumbled Fred, silently cursing the caretaker, "so he got to keep it all did he?"

"Well it was offered to him but he decided that in the end he didn't want it."

"What?" Fred frowned as he looked up at the older wizard, "why would he do something like that? The treasure must have been worth loads."

"Ahh," Dumbledore gave a slight grin and patted Fred kindly on the shoulder, "you see Fenter was a very wealthy man. His success as a treasure hunter made him a great fortune; in fact he could probably afford anything he wanted."

"What and Filch didn't want a box full of gold or jewels?"

"Not all treasure glitters and trinkets don't necessarily make you happy. What one person considered to be their greatest prize, doesn't always have the same appeal to someone else."

"So what was Fenter's greatest treasure?"

"Fenter and I seem to think along the same lines," replied Dumbledore smiling. He handed Fred a rolled up Daily Profit, "I thought you might like to catch up on yesterday's events, seeing as you were otherwise engaged with being unconscious."

Fred took the battered paper and unfolded it across the covers of his bed. Slap bang in the middle of the page was a furious looking Mr Filch holding up what looked like a rather battered pair of old boots. Frowning in confusion Fred's eyes moved from the photo of Filch, who was now waving an angry fist out from the page, to the headline.

_Hogwart's Caretaker Gets The Boot_ read the headline. Fred skimmed as fast as he could through the ensuing article to see if he could make sense of it all. Finally, when the penny dropped, he looked back up at the headmaster and laughed.

"A pair of boots?" asked Fred looking astounded, "his most prized possession was a pair of old boots?"

"Not just any old boots," corrected Dumbledore, "I believe they were hand crafted by some of the finest goblin cobblers at the time using the most comfortable dragon hide and stitched together using luxury spider web silk."

"Right." Fred said slowly as Dumbledore looked like he was about to become misty-eyed, "but basically still just boots."

"Ah," sighed Dumbledore patting Fred on the shoulder, "the youth of today. When you live as long as Fenter did, or indeed I have, you'll one day understand the importance of having comfortable feet. Well I'll take leave of you now, hopefully I'll be able to make some headway with Mr Filch."

"Why?"

"He's currently locked in his office and refusing to come out," Dumbledore explained standing up. "Ahh I see you brother and Mr Jordan are here to check up on you."

"They're probably here to steal my Sherbet Lemons," Fred waved a hand at the sweets that someone had left on the locker amongst the cards.

"Oh thank you, don't mind if I do," said Dumbledore taking one before he left.

"Alright bruv," beamed George bounding into the room with Lee. He nodded at Dumbledore as the headmaster passed them, before plonking himself down into the chair while Lee sat on the end of the bed.

"Alright," greeted Fred looking at the bandage wrapped around his brother's head, "I see you got a knock as well."

"Yeah," replied George rubbing his head with his hand, "though not as bad as you. I was turfed out of here yesterday."

"Yesterday?" frowned Fred, "how long have I been in here?"

"Eighteen months," said Lee quickly flashing his friend a grin.

"Please, only an idiot would fall for something like that," pointed out Fred, "so? How long?"

"Two days," answered George, "for a moment there I thought you were going to miss the end of year feast."

"Ah, so you were worried about me?"

"No," said Lee deflating his friend's ego somewhat, "it's just we would have had to pack your stuff up for you. I don't care how good a friend you are, I'm not touching your dirty socks."

"With friends like you, who needs enemies," mumbled Fred fluffing his pillow up. "Actually, speaking of Filch…"

"Oh you heard about that did you?" grinned George, picking up the discarded Daily Prophet.

"I can't believe we went through all that for a pair of manky old boots," Fred shook his head.

"This almost made it worth it though," George pointed at the photo of Filch on the front of the paper, "he's been sulking in his room since this was taken yesterday."

"What I don't get his why he lied for us," Fred frowned, "I mean, we were old of school bounds, after dark. All he had to do was drop us in it and we'd have been expelled."

"Yeah I was thinking about that too," admitted Lee, "it's not as if Filch cares what happens to you two, or any student for that matter."

"I came up with two theories," George said leaning back on the chair and resting his legs on his brother's bed, "one: Filch is completely misunderstood and underneath it all he is a decent person…"

"Yeah and pigs might fly," admitted Lee.

"Didn't Percy have to levitate a pig during his exam?" asked Fred.

"Oh yeah," replied Lee remembering with a smile, "all that panicked squealing coming from the Great Hall."

"Yep, and that was just Percy," nodded Fred, "sorry George, you were saying?"

"The only other choice is that he wanted to keep the treasure all to himself," continued George thoughtfully, "if he let people know that he had gone into the forest after us. Then people would have asked us why we had gone in there in the first place."

"And then we'd have said we were looking for the treasure," finished Fred taking a sip of some water by his bed, "and that would mean he would have had to share it with us."

"Exactly, his little story about us being in detention was…"

"Believable?" ventured Lee

"I was going to say it was to make sure we couldn't claim any of the treasure but yes it was believable too," conceded George, "of course it backfired on him."

"Yep," agreed Lee picking up the paper and giving it a wave.

"Well not only that, but he missed a chance to get us expelled," admitted George.

"I'm sure he'll have plenty of chances to make that happen in the next few years," Lee pointed out.

"Hang on," said Fred thoughtfully looking back at the article once again.

"What?" asked George giving Lee a questioning look, who responded in turn with a shrug.

"It says here that the shoes were Fenter Prevend's," Fred tapped the page with his finger.

"So?"

"So…" Fred said slowly, "I have it in written down in black and white that the treasure was Fenter Prevend's."

"Right."

"And you also agreed that the treasure was Prevend's?"

"Of course."

"Good," Fred slapped the paper down on the bed and grinned at his brother, just as Madam Pompfrey came around with a tray of bandages.

"I'm just going to change your dressings and you can be on your way," she said fussing around. She slapped George's outstretched feet off of the bed, "feet belong on the floor not on the sheets."

"Don't worry about him Madam Pompfrey, he was just leaving," advised Fred as she began to remove the bandage from his head.

"I was?"

"Yep," nodded Fred, making Pompfrey cluck disapprovingly before holding his head still with her spare hand, "you have to go and borrow something off of Charlie."

"I do? What?"

"His razor," grinned Fred, "you owe me one set of eyebrows."

That evening there was a loud bustle within the Great Hall as the students and staff settled down for the end of term feast. Lee Fred and George made their way through the throng, and sat down into their seats opposite Alicia and Angelina.

"Er… George?" asked Angelina without taking her eyes off of the Weasley twin.

"Yes?"

"Where are your eyebrows?"

"Oh I have them," replied Fred fishing his hand into his pocket and pulling out two small clear vials. "See? This is the left one and this is the right one," he explained giving each vial a shake.

"Should we even bother asking why?" queried Alicia, raising her eyebrows in a way that George wished he could.

Over the course of the meal, the twins and Lee brought the two girls up to speed on everything they had been up to, from finding the compass, the bet involving eyebrows, right up to the night they found the treasure with Filch.

"And that is why I am now the proud owner of these," finished Fred leaning back on his chair and waving the vials once again.

"So let me get this straight," said Alicia firmly, just as the myriad of ice creams, cakes and other desserts suddenly appeared along the rows of tables, "you want us to believe that it was you that found Prevend's treasure and that you weren't actually in detention?"

"Yeah," agreed George. He pointed up to where his eyebrows should have been, "do you think I would have bet these on something stupid?"

"Last week you bet Lee that you could finish a bowl of soup using a fork before he could," Angelina said helping herself to some bread and butter pudding.

"I won didn't I?" replied George indignantly.

"Only because I gave up after half an hour," countered Lee.

"So you're saying you would have beaten me?"

"Definitely. I was winning at the time, but I was really hungry and I wanted to at least have something filling to eat before lunch was over."

"Right that's it. Some one find us two bowls of soup," stated George looking up and down the table whilst grasping a fork from in front of him.

"Don't be daft," said Fred, placing a steadying hand on his brother's shoulder, "there isn't any soup; we're having dessert."

"Oh."

"So you'll have to use bowls of custard instead," Fred lent over and picked up a large jug and placed it in front of his brother.

"God, you're idiots," sighed Alicia looking at the twins, "at least Lee isn't as bad as you two."

"Hey Angelina?" asked Lee pointing across the table, "can I borrow your fork?"

The competition between George and Lee, which drew the attention of the neighbouring tables, was declared a resounding draw. This was partly down to the fact that forks really aren't designed to pick up custard but it was mainly due to the fact that the cheering supporters caused McGonnagal to bear down on the two of them. The head of Gryffindor confiscated their forks and threatened to transfigure them into pigs if they continued to carry on in such a manner.

After the hall had settled back down into a low hum of conversation, Dumbledore stood up and shushed the remaining sounds into silence.

"We'll here we are again," he said loudly, his voice echoing around the large room, "another year gone, and hopefully our heads filled with a little bit more knowledge then when westarted. All that remains is to announce the final House Point totals for the House Cup."

"With four hundred and forty seven points… Gryffindor!"

The polite applause from each of the four tables petered out as people became distracted from the whoops and cheers coming from Fred and George who were busy high fiving each other and their bewildered neighbours sitting either side of them. Realising that something was wrong the twins' exuberance diminished as they looked around at the rest of the students who, either had expressions on confusion or were starting to laugh.

People stood up and craned their necks at the duo who were now having a hurried whispered conversation with Angelina.

"Sorry Professor," shouted Fred, leaning up from the exchange, "we thought you were starting with the winners."

"Quite all right Mr Weasley," replied Dumbledore as a wave of laugher rippled around the hall. "Now with four hundred and sixty two points, and third place Mr Weasley, is… Hufflepuff!"

More polite clapping echoed around the hall while Angelina and Alicia continued to mock the twins for their earlier misunderstanding.

"In second place with five hundred and seven points is…" Dumbledore left a long pause to build up a bit of expectation, "Ravenclaw!"

A huge cheer went up from the Slytherin table, whilst the Ravenclaw students along with those from the other two Houses gave a courteous, if slightly forced, applause. Snape could be seen leaning back in his chair along the teacher's table smirking smugly as he accepted congratulatory handshakes from the other House teachers.

"Well done once again Slytherin," called Dumbledore over the celebrations, "better luck next year to the rest of you. Finally I would just like to say a few words," the noise level once again reduced itself so everyone could hear, "to the first years I would like to say that I hope you have made some new friends and all had an interesting and exciting year. Although," and at this point he looked directly at the twins, "I'm sure some of you had a more eventful time then others."

"To the outgoing seventh years," each group of the eldest students from the tables gave a little cheer of acknowledgement, "I hope you'll look back on your time here with great fondness, and of course you will always be welcome back anytime you want to visit. Best of luck in your life outside of the school, I'm sure I will be bumping into some of you at some point."

"As for the rest of you," his gaze swept the room, "there is a nice long summer ahead of you. Plenty of time to forget everything you have learnt here this year. Enjoy your holidays and I'll be seeing you all in September."

The rest of the evening was spent saying goodbyes to friends, with lots of promises of writing letters and staying in touch over the holidays, followed by some last minute packing as drawers and cupboards were emptied of possession.

"Is this yours or mine?" Fred asked Lee holding up a rather mangled looking textbook.

"Let's see," Lee took the book and flicked through the first few pages, "it's yours. Remember you spilled some Exquilax Juice on the pages and you lost most of chapter three."

"Oh yeah," remembered Fred taking the book back, "that's right. I never did find out how the Troll Revolt ended. Wotcha George, what in Godric's name are those?"

George was standing at the door way of the dormitory holding onto a pair of very distressed looking boots, the shoe laces had long since snapped off and a battered hole had been ripped down the side of one of the pairs.

"These,"said George lifting the boots up, "are Fenter's."

"What?" exclaimed Fred looking at his brother disbelievingly, "did you just go and ask Filch for them?"

"Yep," grinned George, "although I only actually asked for the three fifths that were owed to us, but he threw both boots at me so I'm guessing he didn't want them. I'll sneak down to the kitchens later and get one of the House Elves to help me cut these into three parts.

"Er… you know what?" said Lee staring at the mangled footwear in his friend's hand, "you can keep my share."

"Yeah mine too," added Fred.

"Thanks," beamed George looking at the boots, "now when mum asks me why I have no eyebrows, I can pull the boots out and say 'because of these'."

"Yes, I'm sure she'll be convinced it was a good swap," replied Lee.

The next day passed by quickly, especially for the twins since they wanted to say goodbye to a whole host of people. They gave a cheery wave to the suit of Dwarven Armour outside the kitchens, which was quite difficult given the fact that they were laden down with a final supply of cakes and buns from the House Elves.

Stowing the food supplies in their bags they made the journey down to train station and settled into the long journey home. People were using the trip to try out as much magic as they could before they were officially not allowed to perform it again. Loud bangs could be heard up and down the corridors of the train as Filibuster Fireworks, Exploding Snap Cards and Whizbang Balloons were let off, played and inflated respectively. The twins even managed to make a little bit of money on the journey as they took a leaf out of the trolley lady's book and went between compartments selling the goodies they had been given by the House Elves.

"Ugh George, do you mind we are trying to eat?" complained Fred putting down a chocolate frog.

"Yeah," agreed Lee pinching his nose between his fingers, "at least open a window."

"Come on guys, they don't smell that bad," replied George looking down at his feet, which were currently wedged into Prevend's old boots, "besides who else do you know that owns real dragon hide boots?"

"No one," admitted Fred, "but then again I didnt know anyone who owned a pair of boots that could kill someone with their smell. Well until now anyway."

"They're really comfy," said George ignoring his brother as he gave an experimental bounce on the soles of the shoes, "well the left one is a bit bumpy at the back."

"He'd eat dung if it was free," Fred told Lee. They both looked at George who was busy trying to fix something on the heel of the boot.

"He'd eat dung for a bet," pointed out Lee.

"Hey, what's that?" asked George looking down at something that had dropped on the floor. He bent down and picked up what looked like an old scrap of parchment wrapped around something. He unrolled it and found that inside the worn paper was a very battered looking wooden bottle, he gave it a shake and could hear that there was still some liquid inside. He turned the bottle over so that the other two could read the words on the side of it - _Inspiro._

"What's the parchment say?" asked Fred as his brother handed him the bottle to look at.

"Not sure," replied George examining it, "it looks like instruction on a potion, quite complicated, probably take months to make... what are you doing?"

Fred had popped open the bottle and was sniffing the contents. He held his finger over the end and up turned it, leaving a small amount of gooey yellow liquid on his skin.

"We'll have to work out what it is," admitted Lee, "I think my dad has some books on that kind of thing at home. You have to break down the ingredients until you can work out what it is made of, and then you know what the potion does."

"Or you can use a much more interesting approach," replied Fred licking his finger.

"God Fred, you'd eat anything," complained George grimacing, "what does it taste like?"

"Do you remember mum's home baked apple pies?" replied Fred thoughtfully.

"Oh yeah?" nodded George.

"Well do you remember when we tried to make them?"

"Oh yeah," George frowned as he remember the disastrous cooking experience, "that bad huh? Feel any different?"

"Not really," admitted Fred, smacking his lips.

"Wonder what it does," said Lee looking over the potion instructions.

"It's an Inspiration Potion, if you take it you get inspired," said Fred quickly then suddenly frowning, "how did I know that?"

"Here let me have a look at that," George took the bottle back off of his brother and took a small sip. His eyes seemed to glaze over slightly, "you knew what the potion was because you took some and became inspired."

"Ok," said Lee slowly, "that's a little weird."

"I bet this is how Prevend got so good at treasure hunting," admitted Fred pointing at the bottle, "if he got stuck, he'd just need to take a swig and become inspired."

"Yeah but we don't know if this works properly," replied Lee.

"You're right. Ok George, think of something you have been stuck trying to work out and then take some of the potion.

"Like what?"

"I dunno," shrugged Fred, "I know, how about those biscuits that uncle Enoch use to make us but wouldn't tell us the recipe?"

"Oh yeah the ones that would turn you into a yellow bird for a bit," George nodded as he remembered.

"We worked out most of the potion. Mainly through eves-dropping on Enoch," Fred explained to Lee, "but ours would never work properly."

George took another sip of the potion and thought hard about the biscuits. His eyes glazed over again and he spoke quickly, "use the tail feathers from a canary and not the wing feathers, as they tend to be unstable for potions."

"Wicked, I guess our evening out in the forest wasn't totally wasted," grinned Fred. "Can you imagine what we can do if we use this potion?"

"What?" asked Lee excitedly

"If you're not sure maybe you need a bit of inspiration," said George holding out the bottle.

It was quite late, with the sun hung low and lazy in the sky, by the time the train pulled into King's Cross, and people began trying to drag their bags from the carriages.

"Ok guys," said Lee heaving a bag over his shoulder and grasping the handle of the trolley he had placed a large trunk on, "that's my parents over there. I'll send you guys an Owl over the summer."

"Definitely," agreed George slapping his friend on the back, "you'll have to come and stay with us over the holidays."

"Yeah," added Fred, "see you later."

Lee walked over to his family and became enveloped amongst the arms of his parents. He looked back towards his two friends who had been joined by the rest of their family and like him were having the life hugged out them by their parents. His dad took hold of the trolley and waited for the guard by the wall to give him a nodded and he pushed it through, while Lee and his mother waited for their turn.

Just as the two of them stepped through the gateway back out into the Muggle world, he heard a distinct shrieking female voice over the sound of the train station and all the people in it, which made him smile.

"GEORGE! WHAT IN MERLIN'S BEARD YOU DONE TO YOUR EYEBROWS?"


End file.
